The System of
National Accounts
and its Treatment of
Tourism
Winfield Griffith
Caribbean Tourism Organization
Introduction
• International Definition of Tourism
– Traveling to and staying in places outside usual
environment
– Stay no more than one year
– * UN/WTO Recommendations on Tourism Statistics 1994
Tourism a Substantial Economic Phenomenon
• Grown in enormous proportion over the last two
decades
• Boosting Domestic Value Added
• Employing large numbers
• Providing much of the foreign exchange earnings
• Contributing significantly to government revenues
• Generating investment capital
State of Tourism Economic Statistics
• Scanty and often non-existent
• Limited for users (Governments, businesses and
others)
Requirements for Economic Statistics of Tourism
• Greater regularity – preferably on continuous basis
• Greater reliability
• Greater internal consistency and international
comparability
Nature of Tourism Economic Activity
• Demand oriented
• Supply created in response
• Best studied within a macro-economic accounting
framework
Tourism and the SNA
• Towards an integrated framework the SNA
provides:
- guidelines
- concepts
- Definitions
- Classifications
- Accounting rules
- Accounts and tables
SNA Presents
•
•
•
•
Production Accounts
Income and Outlay Accounts
Capital Formation Accounts
Flow of Funds
What is a Tourism Satellite Account?
• Account of Macroeconomic Aggregates
• Describing size and importance of tourism
– Value Added and GDP
• Detailed data on tourism consumption and the
components of its matching supply – domestic
supply and imports
– Set within the supply and use tables of the SNA
» Current and constant prices
• Detailed Production accounts of the industries of
tourism
– Incl. Employment, inter-industry linkages and
capital formation
What is a Tourism Satellite Account?(cont’d)
• Basic information for Tourism Economic
Impact assessment models
• Link economic and other quantitative
information – e.g arrivals, length of stay, etc
Rationale for a Tourism Satellite Account (TSA)
• National Accounts concepts specific
• Tourism activities cross-cutting
TSA Manual
• Provides framework only
• Recommendations not set in stone
• Countries must use initiative
• Determine own characteristic and non-characteristic
products
• Recommended guide SICTA and TPC
Definitions of Tourism
•
•
•
•
•
•
Domestic Tourism – Travel within own country
Domestic Tourism Consumption
Inbound Tourism
Outbound Tourism
Internal Tourism & National Tourism
International Tourism
Other important definitions
• Establishment; Industry/activity & sector
•
•
•
•
Tourism Characteristic
Tourism Connected
Tourism Specific
Tourism Consumption
Content of the TSA
•
•
•
•
•
•
Presented in 10 summary tables
1. Inbound Tourism Consumption by product
2. Domestic Tourism Consumption by product
3. Outbound tourism consumption by product
4a. Total tourism consumption by product
4b. Tourism consumption by products and forms
of tourism
• 5. Production accounts of the tourism industries
Content of the TSA (cont’d)
• Presented in 10 summary tables
• 6. Supply of services and tourism consumption of
services by products
• 7. Employment in the Tourism Industries
• 8. Tourism Gross Fixed Capital Formation
• 9. Tourism Collective consumption
• 10a Physical Indicators
• 10b.Number of establishment according to number
employed
TSA Extensions
• Regional Accounts
– - a large country phenomenon
– - implies discrete or independent administrative units
• Quarterly TS indicators
– - allows observation of seasonality
CONCLUSION
• Importance of economic framework for vital
tourism activity recognised
• Methods suggested and guidelines indicated
• Need to assess our psychological and physical
readiness to go forward.