Insight into the economic value of tourism

Sharp insights for better policy making

For the national insights, we use the figures from the satellite account tourism (SRT) from Statistics Netherlands, a statistic that is internationally available as Tourism Satellite Account (TSA). With this new measurement method, results from the national tourism accounts are combined with the regional accounts of Statistics Netherlands and a range of other tourism data sources, such as the surveys among tourists.

First pilot with the Province of Gelderland

The province of Gelderland was taken as a pilot to test the measuring method. The method has been further calculated and analysed for Gelderland. The province has provided valuable data and knowledge as input with the aim of gaining concrete insights into spending, employment and economic activity. In Gelderland there is a lot of attention for spreading time and space in terms of leisure and tourism. After all, tourism is often unevenly distributed across a country or province. Good insight into the regional distribution of economic indicators of tourism across the Dutch provinces can help in policymaking.

Clear picture of the economic impact of tourism

Based on this pilot, we can conclude that the method optimally integrates the available sources and provides a clear picture of the economic impact of tourism on the provinces. There are, however, a number of limitations in the sources that must be taken into account. The report therefore concludes with a number of recommendations with regard to improving the data. For example, the method stands or falls with information from surveys among tourists and it would help, for example, to use the same definitions in different studies. The reason for the National Data Alliance to work on a new standard for definitions and methods in recreation and tourism.