ITSS/2015/10 Progress on: Task Force for travel, tourism and transport (T3F) Travel Workshop

Transcription

1 EUROPEAN COMMISSION EUROSTAT Directorate G: Global Business Statistics Unit G2: Structural business statistics and global value chains ITSS/2015/10 WORKING GROUP ON INTERNATIONAL TRADE IN SERVICES STATISTICS 1 JUNE 2015 BECH Building Meeting room Quetelet rue Alphonse Weicker, 5, L-2920 Luxembourg - Kirchberg Starting: 09.30h Ending: 17.00h ITSS/2015/10 Progress on: Task Force for travel, tourism and transport (T3F) Travel Workshop Document is available in CIRCABC Website:

2 1. Task Force on travel, transport and tourism statistics (T3F) held on 9 th April 2015 in Paris, Bank of France. Background The Committee on Monetary, Financial and Balance of Payments Statistics (CMFB) contact group on ESS and ESCB cooperation in the field of balance of payments statistics was established (from late-2013 until end-2014) with the aim to jointly explore practical and organisational cooperation modalities to further enhance the ESS-ESCB cooperation on BOP statistics. On 6-7 November 2014, the CMFB Executive Body (EB) decided to establish a task force on Travel, Transport and Tourism statistics, statistical fields which are closely linked. The CMFB agreed January 2015 to establish four new CMFB substructures in the field of BOP and related primary statistics. One of the four subgroups is on travel, tourism and transport (T3F). The CMFB first T3F meeting took place on the 9 th April 2015, in the bank of France. The Chairman of the CMFB, Jacques Fournier, welcomed the participants of the meeting, chaired by Bertrand Colles from Bank of France and Jorge Saralegui from National Statistics Institute of Spain, and indicated that the task force on travel, transport and tourism statistics (T3F) is considered to be one of the most important subgroups of the CMFB. He reasserted the general idea behind the T3F, namely that the best experts in the European Union would work together to put forward recommendations for the requisite issues. CMFB mandate for the travel, tourism and transport task force with four objectives: Objective 1: reviewing administrative sources. It is proposed to develop the use of these sources (recommendations of best practices, identification of legal barriers and possible actions, etc.). The task force should provide some thoughts about possible data sharing arrangements enabling some countries to benefit from administrative sources of other countries to improve their own estimates. Objective 2: sourcing data from mobile network operators. Based on the report feasibility study on the use of mobile positioning data for tourism statistics, to propose a strategic plan to bring Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) to provide data on an equal basis in all European countries for statistical purposes requirements, including concrete proposals on an appropriate European legal basis to serve this goal Objective 3: sourcing data from credit card data. Discussion about the advantages and drawbacks and the feasibility of a similar European - centralized approach as regards the information of credit card issuer on travel-related payments carried out by credit cards; a comparison of the pros and cons with those of mobile data will be pursued to the extent possible Objective 4: improvement of bilateral asymmetries. Based on the analysis of the bilateral asymmetries in the area of transport, travel and tourism statistics, the T3F will identify 1

3 focused key areas for improvements and propose, if necessary, a roadmap for the CMFB working program after Main conclusions: The existing results from the travel methodological inventory, which was carried out by Eurostat in 2013, should be used as a basis for the stock-taking exercise on administrative sources. Plan for an enhanced version of the questionnaire to be drafted, taking into account the need for administrative source to be clearly defined. Members of the Travel Workshop should carry out the task and report back to the T3F in time for the final report The review of administrative sources should follow an output-orientated approach, rather than one country-by-country. The scope should include both existing and potential future administrative sources Importance to focus on, and to identify good practices, bearing in mind that these may differ across domains and countries Identification of specific auxiliary information on the advantages and disadvantages of the administrative sources Encourage bilateral exchange of information between countries, including discussions on causes and potential solutions Potential causes for asymmetries may be identified by analysing: i) the evolution of the structure of asymmetries over an extended time-period; and ii) identification of specific items which would deserve more in-depth study Mirror data from surveys based on the European regulation on tourism, on domestic and inbound tourism (i.e. demand-side data) should also be used as a means of reducing asymmetries. Eurostat will provide the TF with the overview on global Intra-EU bilateral travel and transport asymmetries in 2013 under BPM6 methodology. The draft interim report will be presented to the CMFB Plenary at the meeting of 2-3 July The second meeting of the T3F is envisaged for late-autumn this year (October/November). 2

4 2. 5 th Travel Workshop held in Frankfurt on 6 th -7 th October 2014 The travel workshop was hosted by the Deutsche Bundesbank (Regional Office) with participants from17 countries, ECB and Eurostat, chaired by Rene Dellmour from the bank of Austria. Main topics on the agenda: Implementation of BPM6 and the travel methodology Specific methodological issues Integration and harmonisation Asymmetries 1. The survey on the methodological inventory: first results There is a wide variety of methods (31 countries, 31 different methods) Bottom up vs top - down approaches Border surveys are the only method that can theoretically meet all requirement Credits = physical variable (arrivals/nights) multiplied by average expenditures Debits = based on household surveys Specific sources frequently used for health, education, seasonal and border workers Responses are available on CIRCABC 1 include standardized description of data sources. 2. New presentation of bilateral asymmetries by Eurostat New ways of presenting bilateral asymmetries with graphs developed by the ITSS team Usual matrix plus country sheets summarizing all asymmetries for one country Graphic representation easy to capture MS endorse the regular production of this kind of information 3. Cruise ships in the Greek BOP 4. Time-sharing arrangements in the German BOP 5. New sources for travel in the Portuguese BOP 6. Students fees in the UK BOP 7. Links between travel in BOP and Tourism Statistics 8. Harmonisation efforts in Austria 9. Seasonal adjustments for travel time series 1 Path: CircaBC/ESTAT/ITSS/Library/TravelWorkshop/Meetings/Meetings(from2010 onwards)/methodological Questionnaire 3

5 10. Seaports, airports and support services in Norway 11. Mirroring Turkish and German travel data The 6th Workshop on Travel is scheduled to take place in Copenhagen, probably in September Countries are encouraged to answer to the updated travel methodological questionnaire provided by bank of Austria (Rene Dellmour). Eurostat's contribution to the T3F task force and the travel workshop will be limited. Active participation to 6th Workshop on Travel is currently not foreseen. 4