Spent Force: Tourist statistics

I have in the past said that I would never refer to tourist spend statistics again. Recently, a letter to "The Bulletin" from Ian Morrison mentioned an article of mine in saying that he takes no notice of various statistics (and I seem to recall Mr. Morrison having specifically highlighted tourism spend statistics previously). I take no notice either, Ian, other than to bring attention to how unrepresentative they can be.

Let us try, once and for all, to understand what the figures that come from the Egatur survey of tourism spend represent. And if we can understand them, then perhaps we can all stop bothering referring to them or suggesting that the "authorities" are somehow attempting to deliberately misinform. They are not. Within the scope of the Egatur surveys, the information is very clear. At the foot of this article is a link which shows just how clear the information is, and it is to this that I address my initial comments.

When I have written in the past about the spend statistics, I have made the point that the average daily spend per tourist or average spend per visit is arrived at by including data which is only partially related to what many people would think would represent spend, i.e. that on the ground, so to speak.

In a graphic for 2010 (to which the link refers), the way in which daily spend is divvied up is shown. For someone on a package holiday, the daily spend is 126.50 euros, 92.30 euros of which are for the package itself. Just under 30 euros go on restaurants, goods and other costs, with under three euros being spent on transport. For an independent traveller, there is no cost of a package but a figure (24.30 euros) for accommodation and 28.30 euros for transport. Spend on restaurants and other costs are 36.20 euros.

I will make the point that this graphic is for Spain as a whole, but it indicates nonetheless what the spend statistics comprise. My guess is that most people intuitively think that this spend is on restaurants and so on and that they don't think to include the cost of the package. Yet, for the package holidaymaker, it represents three-quarters of the spend. It is this which is the primary source of confusion as to the spend statistics, and of this three-quarters, a good chunk of it goes to non-Mallorcan (or Spanish) businesses - airlines and tour operators. What is illuminating about the graphic is that if a proportion for airlines and tour operators was taken out, the spend in-resort for package and independent travellers would be pretty much identical. And what is also illuminating (at least it was in 2010) is that spend on restaurants is almost the same between the two groups.

The figures just released for August suggest, if you want to be open to suggestiveness, that the British market is far rosier than had been thought. An average of 931 euros per stay is spent by Brit tourists (a figure for the whole of Spain). But what does this mean? It is in fact lower than German spend and significantly lower than that of Scandinavian tourists and those from "the rest of the world" (and I think we can guess what "rest of the world" mainly refers to). Yet even these comparisons are misleading when you factor in the cost of the package. Scandinavian and Russian tourists are the big spenders but then the cost of their flights and packages are generally that much higher. At the lower end of the spend scale are the French, but then how many French tourists travel independently to Spain?

For tourism spend statistics to ever be even vaguely meaningful, the cost of packages or the specific costs of hotels, other accommodation and air transport need to be stripped out or shown separately. They would also be more meaningful if they were to identify just how much spend goes on stuff like tobacco and booze to take home, on supermarket shopping and even on purchases from chemists. Even then, they would only ever be a snapshot. Far, far more relevant is how spend varies according to location, as it would be bound to vary between resorts.

Why isn't there greater drilling down to get at meaningful information? One reason is that it would require a good deal more effort than the interviews which are conducted at airports, border crossings and ports to obtain the statistics which are presently gathered. Another is that the current information is collated according to demands made not by government but by the Bank of Spain and the European Central Bank. The statistics are therefore only general economic information. They have very little relevance to tourism as it really is.

http://www.iet.turismoencifras.es/gastoturistico/item/64-en-qué-se-dejan-los-cuartos.html


Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.


Index for September 2012

Baby buggies - 25 September 2012
Binissalem golf - 7 September 2012
British culture and observation of Mallorcan life - 15 September 2012
Catalonia and independence - 24 September 2012
Catalonia and Mallorca history - 17 September 2012
Coincidence - 23 September 2012
Colonia Sant Pere prefabs - 5 September 2012
Columbus and Ibiza - 29 September 2012
Complementary sector and hotels - 13 September 2012, 16 September 2012
Convergència and La Lliga merge - 21 September 2012
Democracy standards criticised - 22 September 2012
Educational standards in Mallorca - 20 September 2012
Eurovegas - 10 September 2012
Hotel occupancy and attractions into September - 18 September 2012
Hotels and holiday lets - 8 September 2012
Import of waste from Europe - 14 September 2012
IVA rise: it won't work - 3 September 2012
Japanese tourism - 28 September 2012
John Hirst and fakes - 4 September 2012
Mariano Rajoy, his future and the bailout - 12 September 2012
New economic model needed - 2 September 2012
Pop music in Mallorca in the sixties - 9 September 2012
Population growth in Mallorca - 11 September 2012
Return to school: normal this year? - 6 September 2012
September - 1 September 2012
Slogans and tourism - 19 September 2012
Tourism and economic diversification - 26 September 2012
Tourism spend statistics - 30 September 2012
World Tourism Day and renewable energy - 27 September 2012