Indicator Fact Sheet Signals 2001 Chapter Tourism YIR01TO07 Tourism expenditures of private households 1600 1400 Tourism expenditures (EURO) per capita Household consumption expenditures for recreation, education, and cultural services, EU15, in billions EURO, constant 1990 prices 1200 1000 800 600 400 200 0 1 990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 be dk ie uk 340 330 320 310 300 290 280 270 260 250 240 1 990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 (YIR01TO07a) Household consumption expenditures for recreational (including tourism), entertainment, educational and cultural services per capita, in EURO constant 1990 prices, 1990-1997 (YIR01TO07b) Household consumption expenditures on recreational (including tourism), entertainment, educational and cultural services, EU15, in billions EURO constant 1990 prices (Euro/Eco), 1990-1997 Key message K Household expenditure on tourism in Europe increased by 16 % between 1990 and 1997. Tourism prices are continually decreasing, resulting in deals more attractive to the customer. Results and assessments The relevance of the indicator for describing developments in the environment The links between tourism expenditure of private households and the effects of such expenditure on the environment are complex, depending on tourism prices, individual incomes, policies and taxes, holiday periods, and household priorities. The main impacts of increases in tourism expenditure by households are from increases in transportation (YIR01TO04), which accounts for the largest share of tourism expenditure, and the associated increase in energy use (for tour packages, about 45 % of the overall cost is for travel and 37 % for accommodation). The level of expenditure less determines the impacts of tourist activities at destinations. Policy relevance and policy references Several international and national initiatives are in place. The General Assembly placed sustainable tourism on the agenda of the Commission at its Seventh Session in 1999. The EC programme of policies and actions in relation to the environment and sustainable development includes issues related to household expenditures. There are several examples of user fees for public transport to support environmental conservation at national levels. In France, for example, a tax on marine public transport to listed protected areas was created in 1995. The aim of this tax, which is based on the
number of passengers, is to provide additional resources for the better management of these areas, which are often on islands and under pressure from tourism. Household expenditures will be influenced by the EC and national policies on transport pricing (YIR01TO04). Assessment As people become more affluent and have more leisure time, and as the relative costs of travel and holidays fall, tourism is taking a larger and larger share (currently about 9 %) of household expenditure. Household expenditures have been shifting away from basic needs (food, clothing, housing) towards less basic ones, such as transport, fuel and recreation (see YIR01HH04). Household expenditure on recreational, entertainment, educational and cultural services, which includes tourism, increased by 16 % between 1990 and 1997, the largest increases (more than 20 %) being in Belgium, Denmark, Ireland and the United Kingdom. Sweden is the only country in which household expenditures for tourism decreased. As working hours have fallen and holiday periods have increased, time spent on vacations is becoming longer and more people are taking them. For example, vacation time in Denmark increased from 5 to 5.5 weeks during the 1990s. In the Netherlands 40.8 % of people took vacations in 1966 and 72.2 % in 1997, with the average number of vacations per person increasing from 1.24 to 1.71 over that period. Also in the Netherlands, between 1988 and 1997 the percentage of people taking short vacations increased by about twice as much as the percentage taking long vacations. In France, and several other European countries, working hours have fallen from 39 to 35 hours, holiday periods have been extended and the tendency to take a vacation has increased. The average number of trips per person in France increased from 3.1 in 1975 to 4.8 in 1994, with the average duration of each holiday falling from 18 to 13 days. About one-third of holidays taken in France are during July and August; spreading holidays over a longer period would help to reduce congestion and some of the related environmental problems. Summer and winter holidays have become equally important. For instance, in the Netherlands the amount paid for leisure during the summer and winter holiday seasons differed by 50 % in 1988; they became almost equal by 1997. As travel prices continue to fall and living and working conditions improve, the tendency to take more trips each year and spend more money on leisure is likely to continue. Reflecting world patterns and the increasing frequency of air travel, Europeans will be taking trips more frequently and further away from home. The average distance travelled increased from 100 km to 800-900 km between 1982 and 1994. In addition, the retired population in the EU will increase by about 17 million over the next 20 years which could contribute significantly to the growth of tourism.
Meta data Technical information 1. Data source Tables 1 to 3 : Eurostat New Cronos Domain SEC2. C16a70u1: Constant prices Final consumption of households within an economic territory in millions of EURO. Sector c54. Total number of households: New Cronos. Budeanu, A. 1999 A Tour to Sustainability?, Lund, Sweden, Lund University. Revier, P. 2000 Personal Communications. Kristensen, P. 2000 Personal Communications. RIVM, National Institute of Public Health and the Environment, The Netherlands http://www.milieubalans.rivm.nl/doelgroep/ind_3_8_co_8029.html 2. Description of data The expenditure data for the tourism sector includes recreational, entertainment, educational and cultural services [CM 7] The data are estimated for Austria (1980-1997), Denmark 1997, Federal Republic of Germany (including ex-gdr from 1991) (1980-1997), Greece (1980-1997), Ireland (1980-1987), Luxembourg (1980-1997), The Netherlands (1980-1997), Portugal (1980-1985), Spain (1980-1997), Sweden (1980-1997) and the United Kingdom (1980-1983). Population: population on 1 January each year. Germany: Federal Republic of Germany (including east from 1991) 3. Geographical coverage EU15 and one EFTA country (Iceland). 4. Temporal coverage Data from Eurostat is available from 1980 to 1997 (estimates and collected data). 1990-1997 5. Methodology and frequency of data collection The data are based on Eurostat data on household consumption expenditures on recreational, entertainment, educational and cultural services. The graph above shows the median of household consumption expenditures on recreation. 6. Methodology and data manipulation The domain SEC2 (household consumtion) contains disaggregated macroeconomic data harmonized to follow the ESA-79 standard. Measure: Constant prices. Households within an economic territory in millions of EURO. Qualitative information 7. Strengths and weaknesses (at data level) Data for several countries (as mentioned above) are estimated.
Table 1: Household final consumption expenditures by country (billions of EURO) constant prices. 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 be 81,2 80,9 82,9 82,5 83,1 84,7 86,3 88,2 90,9 94,2 97,0 99,7 101,7 100,3 101,8 102,3 104,0 106,2 dk 46,3 45,7 46,4 47,7 49,4 51,5 53,7 52,7 52,1 52,1 52,1 53,2 54,2 55,0 58,7 59,5 61,1 64,8 de 557,0 555,7 549,1 558,1 570,6 580,8 598,8 617,6 635,2 656,8 703,2 822,8 841,5 838,1 845,4 859,0 874,1 880,2 gr 37,9 38,9 39,8 39,6 40,6 42,3 43,1 43,6 45,0 46,3 47,2 47,8 49,2 49,0 50,3 51,4 52,4 53,9 es 198,4 198,2 199,2 200,9 201,6 205,9 173,3 182,4 190,3 198,7 203,6 209,1 213,8 210,2 213,8 217,6 222,2 230,2 fr 447,1 454,6 469,9 475,3 480,3 490,3 506,2 519,0 530,9 545,7 558,5 565,0 572,3 572,8 580,6 589,4 600,4 604,6 ie 15,9 16,2 15,0 15,2 15,5 16,3 17,9 18,6 19,4 20,8 21,2 21,8 22,6 23,3 24,6 25,6 27,3 29,0 it 409,4 414,4 420,4 423,8 433,6 446,8 462,6 481,4 501,7 518,4 530,9 545,1 550,8 537,4 545,0 555,2 559,7 573,0 lu 3,1 3,2 3,2 3,3 3,3 3,4 3,4 3,6 3,7 3,9 4,0 4,3 4,4 4,7 4,9 5,1 5,3 5,5 nl 108,4 105,8 105,5 106,3 107,8 110,8 113,6 116,4 117,4 121,7 127,1 131,2 134,6 135,9 138,9 141,6 145,5 150,1 at 57,4 58,0 59,4 61,5 61,0 62,0 62,7 64,0 66,5 69,9 72,8 75,2 76,8 76,7 76,4 77,6 78,6 79,1 pt 23,5 24,1 24,6 24,6 23,9 24,2 29,0 30,9 33,2 34,3 36,3 37,7 39,2 38,9 39,8 40,5 41,5 42,7 fi : : 40,3 41,4 42,6 44,0 45,7 48,0 50,4 52,4 52,1 50,3 48,2 47,4 48,5 50,4 52,5 54,4 se 75,4 74,9 76,1 74,9 76,1 78,2 81,7 85,5 87,5 88,5 88,0 88,7 87,3 86,0 87,5 88,4 89,2 91,9 uk 342,1 340,9 343,8 360,3 367,6 381,8 405,8 426,0 455,3 470,2 473,0 461,7 461,1 474,5 486,1 495,8 513,1 547,0 EU15 2403 2412 2476 2515 2557 2623 2684 2778 2880 2974 3067 3214 3258 3250 3302 3359 3427 3513 is 2,3 2,4 2,5 2,4 2,4 2,6 2,7 3,1 3,0 2,9 2,9 3,0 2,9 2,8 2,8 3,0 3,2 3,3 Table 2: Household final consumption expenditures for recreation by countries (billions of EURO) constant prices. 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1 990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 at 3,6 3,7 3,6 3,8 3,8 4,0 4,2 4,5 5,4 5,5 5,9 6,1 6,3 6,2 6,2 6,5 6,8 6,8 be 4,4 4,7 4,9 4,8 4,9 5,0 5,3 5,5 5,8 6,1 6,5 6,6 6,6 6,7 7,0 7,2 7,4 7,9 dk 3,9 4,0 4,1 4,2 4,5 4,7 5,1 4,9 4,9 5,2 5,3 5,6 5,8 6,0 6,3 6,6 7,0 7,5 fi : : 3,9 4,0 4,0 4,1 4,3 4,5 4,7 4,9 5,1 4,9 4,6 4,6 4,7 5,0 5,2 5,5 fr 31,1 31,8 32,9 33,1 33,5 33,8 35,0 36,5 38,5 41,0 42,5 43,0 44,2 44,0 45,1 45,8 46,5 47,6 de 50,1 50,6 49,7 49,8 50,4 51,3 52,8 54,8 57,5 59,6 65,3 79,0 80,7 80,3 80,0 80,0 81,1 80,4 gr 1,9 2,3 2,5 2,3 2,4 2,4 2,5 2,5 2,6 2,7 2,7 2,8 2,8 2,8 3,1 3,2 3,2 3,2 ie 1,8 1,8 1,5 1,5 1,6 1,7 1,9 2,1 2,1 2,3 2,4 2,5 2,7 2,8 2,9 3,1 3,4 3,5 it 31,8 32,5 32,7 32,5 34,7 36,5 38,9 40,4 43,4 46,5 48,1 49,1 49,7 48,9 50,2 51,5 51,7 53,1 lu 0,1 0,1 0,1 0,1 0,1 0,1 0,1 0,1 0,1 0,2 0,2 0,2 0,2 0,2 0,2 0,2 0,2 0,2 nl 10,7 10,3 9,9 10,1 10,5 10,6 11,0 11,7 12,2 12,7 13,6 14,3 14,5 14,6 14,7 15,1 15,5 16,3 pt 1,4 1,5 1,5 1,5 1,5 1,5 1,7 1,8 1,9 2,1 2,3 2,6 2,9 2,9 3,0 3,1 3,2 3,3 es 12,3 12,5 12,7 13,0 12,6 12,9 14,8 15,3 15,9 16,9 17,7 18,2 18,5 18,4 18,6 19,4 20,5 20,9 se 6,8 6,7 6,7 6,6 6,8 7,1 7,6 8,1 8,5 9,0 9,0 9,1 8,9 8,5 8,8 9,0 8,9 9,2 uk 29,6 29,8 30,5 32,1 33,5 34,9 37,2 39,9 42,8 45,4 47,4 46,6 47,4 49,5 52,3 56,6 58,3 62,1 EU15 189,5 192,3 197,2 199,4 204,7 210,5 222,4 232,6 246,5 260,1 273,9 290,6 295,9 296,5 303,1 312,3 318,9 327,5 is 0,2 0,2 0,2 0,2 0,2 0,2 0,2 0,2 0,3 0,3 0,3 0,3 0,3 0,3 0,3 0,3 0,3 0,4
Table 3: Household consumption expenditures for tourism per capita (EURO/cap) 1 990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 at 764,8 790 798,6 783 779,3 809,3 839,4 841,9 be 649,8 658 660,2 663 692,9 710,6 733,5 779,9 dk 1037 1081 1132 1162 1211 1261 1332 1413 fi 1017 987 909,2 910 922,1 974,1 1012 1063 fr 751,6 755 773,1 765 781,4 789,1 798,3 813,4 de 825,6 991 1006 992 983,2 981 990,7 979,9 gr 264,8 272 274,8 270 298,8 305,1 302,1 305,5 ie 680,7 709 747,7 777 797 868,9 938,2 952,6 it 848,2 865 876 859 878,1 899,4 902,1 923,9 lu 461 467 472,3 494 509,8 525,1 536 549,2 nl 915,4 953 955,3 961 961,2 976,8 1003 1049 pt 235,3 264 298,6 291 303,6 313,3 320,8 330 es 455 469 475,9 471 475,7 495,9 521,9 532,1 se 1056 1060 1033 978 1003 1021 1013 1044 uk 824,6 809 818,2 852 897,1 968,1 992,9 1055