Numbers count, but who’s counting?
Different methodologies used
by agencies and governments
for collecting travel and tourism data result in different
numbers. It’s like comparing
apples and oranges.
Continued from Page 26
looking to revenues of travel-re-
lated industries.
Using the latter method, said Sachs,
is difficult because “it’s almost impossible to parse how much is spent on,
say, shopping by tourists and by nontourists. But combining industry revenues with consumer surveys can be the
beginning of a good model and a great
way to cross-check our work.”
Sachs has been working on this proj-
ect for 10 years and has faith in the
model used by OEF.
“If somebody is overstating their
numbers,” he said,
“they will get caught;
there is a lot of accountability, and all
these numbers get audited. Further, if you
lose credibility, you’re
“TERRIFIC ”
FUN!
NEW YORK TIMES
merce), which reports on travel and
tourism spending for every conceivable
segment in the industry, but a look at
the BEA’s Web site reveals that it has its
own definitions of “spending.”
For instance, the BEA’s estimates of
total tourism-related output include
figures for both “direct” and “indirect”
sales, as defined this way: “Direct tourism-related output comprise all output consumed directly by visitors (e.g.,
traveler accommodations, passenger
air transportation, souvenirs); indirect
tourism-related output comprise all
output used as inputs in the process of
producing direct tourism-related output (e.g., toiletries for hotel guests, the
various ingredients used to make the
meals served airline passengers and
the plastic used to produce souvenir
key chains).
Indirect output was estimated using
‘If somebody is overstating their numbers,
they will get caught. … All these numbers get
audited.’ — Adam Sachs of OEF
further back than
when you started.”
Over the years, said
Sachs, “We’ve started
seeing some of these
estimates become
more reasonable.”
GOVERNMENTS
CRUNCH, TOO
While WTTC is a
private organization,
it relies heavily on
governmental num-ber-crunching for its
reports and forecasts,
as do many industry
segments. A significant source of numbers in the U.S. is the
Bureau of Economic
Analysis (part of the
Department of Com-
commodity-by-commodity output
multipliers from the Current Industry
Analysis Division.”
Yes, a complicated process. And consider the fact that the Travel Industry
Association (TIA), in a more limited approach than WTTC takes to the world,
gets information from all 50 states and
notes in its spending report: “All data
are based on TIA’s Travel Economic
Impact Model. Users should compare
the different methodologies, including
individual state data and results, then
draw their own conclusions.”
In other words, while economics
may be a science, the data it uses are
rarely consistent or comparable.
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MULTIPLIERS AND IMPACT
As if it weren’t complicated enough,
travel and tourism executives are eager
to emphasize “multipliers” and “im-
