Division Current situation

Currently, statistics are collected on the supply of and demand for tourist accommodation, as well as on economic aspects related to tourism behaviour. Key areas of concern are, however, the achievement of a greater degree of comparability of the existing statistics and the establishment of harmonised tourism satellite accounts embedded in the larger concern for sustainable tourism, for which relevant indicators will need to be defined and measured. Due to the immediate impact on the tourism industry of events such as terrorist attacks or the spread of communicable diseases, a main concern will be the improvement of the timeliness of the data.

Main initiatives for 2008 to 2012:

• the current set of tourism statistics and its legal basis will be modernised and, where possible, simplified,

• harmonised Tourism Satellite Accounts will be implemented (including indicators for sustainable tourism).