Interpreting Tourism Statistics: Webinar and Report

We are delighted to access the expertise of David Edwards as a contributor to the ETOA Insight Hub.  Now an independent tourism insight consultant, David has many years’ experience in tourism statistics, including VisitBritain, the UK Office of National Statistics, and Department for Transport.

The tourism sector is fortunate in having a wealth of data that can be used to help paint a picture of the volume and value of visitors, their behaviours and their attitudes, but this abundance of data comes with a health warning.

This handy document discusses in simple terms what the useful statistics are, and pitfalls to watch out for when using them as a business tool. It covers  arrivals data from both origin markets and at destinations, trip purpose, and spend measurements, and how these may differ by destination and collection methodology.

The accompanying webinar features David, alongside Jennifer Iduh of the European Travel Commission, and ETOA’s CEO Tom Jenkins discussing the document and the questions it raises.