Manuals on Tourism Statistics and Tourism Satellite Accounts

International Recommendations for Tourism Statistics 2008 (IRTS 2008)

The International Recommendations for Tourism Statistics 2008 provides a comprehensive methodological framework for collection and compilation of tourism statistics in all countries irrespective of the level of development of their statistical systems. Its primary audience is the staff of national statistical offices and national tourism administrations involved in the compilation of tourism statistics.

The recommendations were drafted by the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) in close cooperation with the United Nations Statistics Division, the International Labour Organization (ILO) and other members of the Inter-Agency Coordination Group on Tourism Statistics. A draft version of the recommendations was reviewed and endorsed by the United Nations Expert Group on Tourism Statistics in June 2007 and was adopted by the Statistical Commission at its thirty-ninth session (E/CN.3/2008/34)

Other language versions of the manual can be downloaded here.

The previous version, Recommendations on Tourism Statistics was adopted by the United Nations Statistical Commission at its twenty-seventh session, in 1993. At the same session, the Commission also adopted the Standard International Classification of Tourism Activities (SICTA) as a provisional classification for use by countries [E/CN.3/1993/26].

Tourism Satellite Account: Recommended Methodological Framework 2008
(TSA: RMF 2008)

The Tourism Satellite Account: Recommended Methodological Framework 2008, provides an updated framework for constructing a Tourism Satellite Account. The purpose of a Tourism Satellite Account is to analyze in detail all the aspects of demand for goods and services associated with the activity of visitors; to observe the operational interface with the supply of such goods and services within the economy; and to describe how this supply interacts with other economic activities. It permits greater internal consistency of tourism statistics with the rest of the statistical system of a country, as well as increased international comparability of these data. The updating process was undertaken by UNWTO under the scrutiny of the Inter-agency Coordination Group on Tourism Statistics.

Other language versions of the manual can be downloaded here.

The previous recommendations were contained in the manual Tourism satellite accounts and approved by the Statistical Commission at its thirty-first session, in 2000 [E/CN.3/2000/21].