MADRID, SPAIN, 20 OCTOBER 2010
Given the major, and growing, contribution of tourism to overall economic activity, job creation and trade, high-quality tourism data is more important than ever for maximizing the sector’s role in global growth and development. Against this background, UNWTO is joining the worldwide celebration of the first United Nations World Statistics Day by highlighting some of the major achievements in the field of tourism statistics.
World Statistics Day 2010, initiated by the United Nations Statistics Division and proclaimed by the UN General Assembly, is dedicated to raising awareness of the many achievements of official statistics.
“It is our pleasure as the World Tourism Organization to join United Nations agencies, international and regional organizations, and national statistical offices in celebrating the first World Statistics Day,” said UNWTO Secretary-General, Taleb Rifai, on the occasion. “Tourism must be understood as an economic sector, especially given its contribution to the pressing economic challenges of our times. Over the years, UNWTO has taken important steps to put in place a powerful conceptual framework for gathering tourism statistics, economic aggregates and indicators relevant to not only the tourism sector, but also to the broader economic context in which tourism is embedded. This has proven key in strengthening the analytical base necessary for harnessing the full economic and development potential of tourism and positioning it higher in the global agenda.”
Mandated by the UN as the “appropriate organization to analyse, to publish, to standardize and to improve the statistics of tourism”, UNWTO has been leading initiatives to measure the economic contribution of tourism to national economies. Chief among these is the Tourism Satellite Account (TSA), a framework for gathering tourism statistics and organizing this data in a way that is consistent with national accounts and thus reliable and internationally comparable.
On the occasion of World Statistics Day, and to contribute to the general aim of raising awareness of the importance of tourism statistics, UNWTO has released Understanding Tourism: Basic Glossary defining the key terms related to measuring and analysing tourism, as well as a Factsheet on the Tourism Satellite Account, intended as a first introduction for understanding tourism as a key economic sector.
The TSA and the conceptual framework for underlying basic statistics constitute two International Recommendations approved by the United Nations in 2008, allowing the economic contribution of the sector to be measured with precision and a high degree of detail and credibility. Official statistics play a central role in policy formulation and business decisions and the TSA has been pivotal in developing effective tourism policies and strategies. Adopted by organizations including the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the International Labour Organization (ILO), the TSA also facilitates the general move towards evidence-based policy-making at the global level.
Relevant links:
Factsheet on the Tourism Satellite Account
Understanding Tourism: Basic Glossary
UNWTO World Statistics Day webpage
Official World Statistics Day webpage
Contacts:
Principal Media Officer: Marcelo Risi
Tel: (+34) 91 567 81 60
mrisi@UNWTO.org - www.UNWTO.org
UNWTO Communications Programme
Tel: +34 91-567-8100
Fax: +34 91-567-8218
comm@UNWTO.org
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