1. Background
This project and subsequent desk research has been made possible by action grants from Eurostat in the field of business statistics under the European Statistics strand of the Single Market Programme (SMP ESS).
European statistics on tourism
In most countries, tourism statistics are compiled using 20th century methodologies, heavily relying on traditional business and household surveys. A built-in threat is that the available statistical indicators are not only driven by user needs but also by the constraints of those methodologies. It is therefore essential that tourism statistics embrace new sources and new methods to ensure that the statistical output lives up to user expectations in terms of relevance, timeliness, punctuality, accuracy, completeness and granularity, while considering the cost-efficiency of the statistical production system and the burden on respondents and administrations. The grant that has been awarded to Statistics Netherlands will support the modernization of the development, production and dissemination of European statistics on tourism, by integrating new sources (single or combined) and methodologies.
General objectives
This modernization of the development of European statistics will be realized as a feasibility study that looks into the patterns of energy consumption of Dutch tourist accommodations like camp sites, hotels and such, and other types of accommodations that are used for tourism (mainly private dwellings like second homes). For this study, data from Dutch smart energy meters will be used. This will be used in trying to answer two research questions:
I: What can we learn in order to detect any seasonal pattern in energy consumption in private dwellings, that could contribute to identifying these dwellings as second homes or as locations primarily used for tourism purposes?
II: What can we learn in order to detect to detect the seasonal pattern in energy consumption in (known) tourist accommodations to track activity and seasonal openings?