DOI: 10.5255/ukda-sn-6846-6
title: International Passenger Survey, 2011
title: International Passenger Survey, 1993-
title: IPS

description: The data cover four subject areas, termed 'Airmiles', 'Alcohol', 'Qregtown' and 'Qcontact'. One file is produced each quarter per subject area, and the dataset updated quarterly. These files can be joined together using the variables YEAR, SERIAL, FLOW and QUARTER.&lt;br&gt;
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The depositor recommends that only expert users who are very familiar with the coding and weighting structures use these data, as limited support is available. Some considerable understanding of the data is required before meaningful analyses can be made; care must be taken when performing time series operations as codes can vary from year to year and not all variables from one year's dataset are used in other years. &lt;br&gt;
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&lt;b&gt;Weighting the IPS&lt;/b&gt;&lt;br&gt;
ONS advise that the variable 'fweight' included in the 'Qcont' dataset should be applied to get an overall weighted profile. This weight is set consistently over time. Other weights are provided to analyse finer detail but no information is provided in the documentation. ONS is currently reviewing the documentation but in the meantime if users have any detailed weighting questions they should contact ONS at: socialsurveys@ons.gov.uk.&lt;br&gt;
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&lt;b&gt;Travelpac data&lt;/b&gt;&lt;br&gt;
'Travelpac' is a simplified version of the IPS database containing 14 of the most widely used categorical and continuous variables. The categorical variables give counts of trips falling into various categories, and include the year or the quarter. All the variables in Travelpac datasets have been re-coded from the full IPS database. The data are then aggregated to form a highly efficient yet compact data file. The Travelpac dataset contains information gathered from people who were interviewed on the IPS on the return leg of their journey, i.e. mainflow passengers. Furthermore, Travelpac contains data only for a subgroup of these travellers, termed 'tourists'. This selection ensures results from Travelpac will be in keeping with other published overseas travel and tourism information. For further information, see the Dataset User Guide, in the documentation. The Travelpac dataset was added to the Archive's version of the IPS 2011 study in November 2012.&lt;br&gt;
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&lt;b&gt;Edition history&lt;/b&gt;&lt;br&gt;
The first edition of this study, released in August 2011, included data and documentation for Quarter 1 (Jan-Mar) only. For the second edition (December 2011), data and documentation from Quarter 2 (Apr-Jun) were added to the study. For the third edition (February 2012), data and documentation from Quarter 3 (Jul-Sep) were added. For the fourth edition (May 2012), Quarter 4 (Oct-Dec) data and documentation were added. For the fifth edition (August 2012), the 16 quarterly data files were replaced with four final annual files (one each for Airmiles, Alcohol, Qcontact and Qregtown). The documentation remains unchanged. For the sixth edition (November 2012), the Travelpac version of the IPS 2011 data was added to the study, with updated documentation, and the previous Qcontact file was replaced with a new version. &lt;br&gt;
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 The &lt;i&gt;International Passenger Survey&lt;/i&gt; (IPS) aims to collect data on both credits and debits for the travel account of the Balance of Payments, provide detailed visit information on overseas visitors to the United Kingdom (UK) for tourism policy, and collect data on international migration.&lt;br&gt;