This Canadian Tourism Satellite Account Handbook developed by Statistics Canada is intended as a guide to how the Canadian Tourism Satellite Account (CTSA) is compiled. The Tourism Satellite Account (TSA) has become the internationally recognized framework and a vital tool by which to measure tourism activity in an economy. The goal of this handbook is to make the CTSA and its inner workings as transparent as possible by bringing previous internal documentation into the public realm along side previously published documents and new documentation. By sharing the Canadian practical experiences in development of the TSA, it should benefit other countries and other interested practitioners in the process of developing and understanding TSAs.

This handbook covers information on the relevant tourism and national accounting concepts and definitions related to the CTSA. Detailed explanations of the various survey data sources and the methods used to move this data into the TSA framework are discussed.