Methodological problems in the economic measurement of tourism: the need for new sources of information

Tourism alone does not comprise an economic sector. Tourism activities are found in the agriculture, industry, and service sectors. As a result, tourism can contribute considerably to the growth of a country’s economy. Currently, all tourism activities are included in the GDP, but policymakers and entrepreneurs need to identify tourism’s contribution to the overall economy. However, the available statistics are not always homogeneous across countries, nor are they collected in a timely manner. The geographic details of available statistics are also insufficient. Estimating the value tourism adds to the economy is methodologically complex because of varying operational definitions and the use of different statistical sources. Conversely, the production of business registers offers a new opportunity to estimate economic aggregates and, in particular, the value added of the tourism sector, even at the local level. Nevertheless, some methodological problems remain.