REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL on the implementation of Regulation (EU) No 692/2011 of the European Parliament and of the Council concerning European statistics on tourism
Date: 2022-01-06
Institutions: European Commission, Eurostat
Subjects: EU statistics, Eurostat, data collection, statistical method, tourism statistics

EN 

  EN 

   EUROPEAN COMMISSION  Brussels, 6.1.2022  COM(2022) 2 final  REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL on the implementation of Regulation (EU) No 692/2011 of the European Parliament and of the Council concerning European statistics on tourism  
 
 
CONTENTS 

1.  BACKGROUND ......................................................................................................... 2 

2.  MAIN ACHIEVEMENTS AND IMPROVEMENTS ................................................ 2 

3.  KEY INFORMATION ABOUT EUROPEAN STATISTICS ON TOURISM .......... 2 

4.  DELEGATED ACTS AND IMPLEMENTING MEASURES ................................... 3 

5. 

IMPLEMENTATION OF THE REGULATION ........................................................ 4 

5.1.  Relevance .......................................................................................................... 4 

5.2.  Accuracy ............................................................................................................ 5 

5.3.  Timeliness and punctuality ................................................................................ 6 

5.4.  Accessibility and clarity .................................................................................... 6 

5.5.  Comparability .................................................................................................... 7 

5.6.  Coherence .......................................................................................................... 7 

6.  BURDEN AND COST-EFFECTIVENESS ............................................................... 7 

7.  OUTLOOK .................................................................................................................. 8 

 
 
 
 
 
 
1. 

BACKGROUND 

Regulation  (EU)  No  692/2011  concerning  European  statistics  on  tourism1  (‘the 
Regulation’)  established  a  common  framework  for  the  systematic  development, 
production and dissemination of statistics on tourism in the European Union. It reflected 
the changes to the tourism economy and of tourist behaviour that had occurred since the 
entry into force of Council Directive 95/57/EC2 and responded to the ensuing changes in 
user needs. 

Article  7  of  the  Regulation  states  that,  every  5  years,  ‘the  Commission  shall  submit  an 
evaluation  report  to  the  European  Parliament  and  to  the  Council  on  the  statistics 
compiled  pursuant  to  this  Regulation  and,  in  particular,  on  their  relevance  and  the 
burden on business’. 

A first evaluation report was issued in 20163 and this is the second such report. It gives 
an overview of European statistics on tourism, in particular:  

- 
- 

the requirements laid down in the Regulation (Section 2);   
the rationale for the implementing measures and delegated acts adopted since the 
first report (Section 3).  

Moreover,  it  discusses  how  the  Regulation  is  implemented,  with  reference  to  the 
established quality criteria for official statistics (Section 4), and looks at measures taken 
to reduce the burden on businesses (Section 5). Finally, the report explores the possible 
revision  of  the  current  legal  framework  with  a  view  to  modernising  tourism  statistics 
(Section 6). 

2.  MAIN ACHIEVEMENTS AND IMPROVEMENTS 

-  The  Commission,  in  close  cooperation  with  its  partners  in  the  European  Statistical 
System, executes the Regulation effectively. Recently, the statistical framework also 
helped to meet the needs of users monitoring the impact of COVID-19 on the tourism 
sector. 

-  The  tools  for  adopting  delegated  acts  helped  to  improve  the  level  of  detail  and 

timeliness of the available data. 

-  Pilot  studies  on  tourism  satellite  accounts  (TSA)  were  conducted  every  3  years, 

which may lead to the integration of TSA when modernising the Regulation. 

-  New  sources  and  methods  were  actively  and  successfully  explored,  and  previously 

unavailable data is being published as experimental statistics. 

3.  KEY INFORMATION ABOUT EUROPEAN STATISTICS ON TOURISM 

The  EU  tourism  ecosystem  encompasses  globalised  and  interconnected  value  chains. 
These  comprise  off-line  and  on-line  information  and  service  providers  (tourist  offices, 

1 Regulation (EU) No 692/2011 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 6 July 2011 concerning 
European statistics on tourism and repealing Council Directive 95/57/EC (OJ L 192, 22.7.2011, p. 17). 
2 Council Directive 95/57/EC of 23 November 1995 on the collection of statistical information in the field 

of tourism (OJ L 291, 6.12.1995, p. 32). 

3  Report  from  the  Commission  to  the  European  Parliament  and  to  the  Council  on  the  implementation  of 
Regulation  (EU)  No  692/2011  of  the  European  Parliament  and  of  the  Council  concerning  European 
statistics on tourism (COM/2016/489 of 29.7.2016). 

2 

 
 
 
 
                                                 
digital  platforms,  travel  technology  providers),  travel  agents  and  tour  operators, 
accommodation suppliers, destination managing organisations, attractions and passenger 
transport related activities (for example, trips made by air, trains and cruises). Very small 
companies  operate  alongside  large  multinational  corporations,  and  private  and  public 
capital are intertwined4. 

Tourism refers to the activity of visitors taking a trip to a main destination outside their 
usual environment for less than a year, for any main purpose, including business, leisure 
or another personal purpose, other than to be employed by a resident entity in the place 
visited. The EU’s tourism sector is important for the economy of all Member States and 
represents  a  significant  source  of  employment.  Any  appraisal  of  its  competitiveness 
requires a good knowledge of the volume of tourism, its characteristics, the profile of the 
tourist, the level of tourism expenditure and the benefits for European economies.  

Regulation (EU) No 692/2011 is the primary basis for official, harmonised statistics on 
tourism  supply  and  demand.  The  Regulation  covers,  on  the  one  hand,  data  on  capacity 
and  occupancy  of  EU  tourist  accommodation  establishments  and,  on  the  other,  data  on 
trips  made  by  EU  residents.  The  former  is  generally  collected  from  businesses  in  the 
accommodation  sector  (monthly  and  annual  data  transmitted  by  Member  States  to  the 
Commission,  in  the  form  of  aggregate  tables);  the  latter  is  generally  collected  via 
household surveys (annual data transmitted by Member States to the Commission, partly 
in the form of aggregate tables, partly in the form of micro-data). 

Comprehensive  datasets,  summary  tables  and  articles  are  available  on  the  Eurostat 
website5.  

In  addition  to  the  statistics  disseminated  in  the  context  of  the  Regulation,  Eurostat 
complements the data on tourism flows with information on tourism-related employment 
and  on  the  economic  dimension  of  tourism  industries,  based  on  existing  labour  market 
statistics  or  structural  and  short-term  business  statistics.  Every  3  years,  Eurostat  also 
publishes a report on tourism satellite accounts, including a methodological state-of-play 
on the implementation of TSA across Europe, as well as data6. 

4.  DELEGATED ACTS AND IMPLEMENTING MEASURES 

Regulation (EU) No 692/2011 empowers the Commission to adopt delegated acts: 
- 
- 

amending the definitions to reflect changes to international definitions (Article 2(2)); 
amending the deadlines for data transmission to take account of economic, social and 
technical developments (Article 9(5)); and 
adapting 
developments. 

take  account  of  economic,  social  and 

the  Annexes 

technical 

to 

- 

However,  the  Commission  may  not  change  provisions  in  the  Annexes  on  the  optional 
nature of the required data and on limits to its scope (Article 3(2)). 

During the reporting period, the Commission adopted two delegated acts:  

4  Commission  Staff  Working  Document  on  ‘Scenarios  towards  co-creation  of  transition  pathway  for 
tourism for a more resilient, innovative and sustainable ecosystem’ (SWD(2021)164 final of 21.6.2021). 

5 https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/web/tourism (available only in English, French and German). 

6 https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/documents/7870049/10293066/KS-FT-19-007-EN-N.pdf (2019 edition, 

English only). 

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-  Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2019/16817; and  
-  Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2020/15698. 

The  former  improved  the  relevance  and  timeliness  of  European  statistics  on  tourism, 
given  the  changed  user  needs  since  the  adoption  of  the  Regulation  in  2011.  The  latter 
aligned the Regulation with the United Kingdom being a non-EU country (third country) 
since 1 February 2020. 

A  report  on  the  exercise  of  the  power  to  adopt  delegated  acts9  was  submitted  by  the 
Commission to the European Parliament and the Council in February 2021. 

Regulation  (EU)  692/2011  stipulates  that  the  Commission  is  to  define,  in  the  form  of 
implementing acts, the arrangements for and structure of the quality reports (Article 6(4)) 
and the practical arrangements for the transmission of data (Articles 9(2) and 9(3)).  

During  the  reporting  period,  Commission  Implementing  Regulation  (EU)  2021/117910 
was  adopted  to  align  Implementing  Regulation  (EU)  No  1051/2011  with  the  amended 
requirements laid down in the above-mentioned Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 
2019/1681. 

5. 

IMPLEMENTATION OF THE REGULATION 

Under Regulation (EU) No 692/2011, Member States collect, compile, process and send 
harmonised  statistics  on  tourism  supply  and  demand.  The  Commission  (Eurostat) 
assesses the quality of the data it receives and publishes it on the Eurostat website in the 
form  of  predefined  tables,  multi-dimensional  databases  and  analytical  articles.  This 
section evaluates the implementation of the Regulation based on standard quality criteria 
for European statistics. 

Based on the most recent user satisfaction survey carried out by Eurostat (2020)11, 75% 
of the respondents (n=180) rated the overall quality of European statistics on tourism as 
‘very good or good’ and 19% as ‘adequate’.  

5.1. Relevance 

Relevance refers to the degree to which statistics meet users’ current and potential needs.  

7  Commission  Delegated  Regulation  (EU)  2019/1681  of  1  August  2019  amending  Regulation  (EU)  No 
692/2011 of the European Parliament and of the Council concerning European statistics on tourism, as 
regards the transmission deadlines and adaptation of Annexes I and II (OJ L 258, 9.10.2019, p. 1). 

8  Commission  Delegated  Regulation  (EU)  2020/1569  of  23  July  2020  amending  Annex  I  to  Regulation 
(EU) No 692/2011 of the European Parliament and of the Council, on the classification of countries of 
residence of guests staying at tourist accommodation establishments in the context of the withdrawal of 
the United Kingdom from the Union (OJ L 359, 29.10.2020, p. 1). 

9  Report from the Commission to the European Parliament and to the Council on the exercise of the power 
to  adopt  delegated  acts  conferred  on  the  Commission  under  Regulation  (EU)  No  692/2011  of  the 
European  Parliament  and  of  the  Council  concerning  European  statistics  on  tourism  (COM/2021/86  of 
25.2.2021). 

10  Commission  Implementing  Regulation  (EU)  2021/1179  of  16  July  2021  amending  Implementing 
Regulation (EU) No 1051/2011 as regards the aggregate tables and micro-data files for the transmission 
of the data (OJ L 256 19.7.2021, p. 89).  

11 https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/documents/64157/4375449/Report_USS_2020.pdf 

4 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
                                                 
The  entry  into  force  of  Regulation  (EU)  No  692/2011  improved  the  completeness  and 
timeliness of tourism statistics and, as such, increased the data’s relevance for users. The 
Commission continued to address user needs through the legal framework, but also in a 
more experimental, ad hoc approach.  

On the one hand, a delegated act was adopted, which improved: the measurement of new 
phenomena  such  as  the  use  of  booking  platforms;  the  timeliness  of  monthly 
accommodation statistics (reducing the transmission delay from 3 months or 8 weeks to 6 
weeks); and the level of detail in annual accommodation statistics, by including data on 
NUTS3  regions  and  cities  and  monthly  data  for  NUTS2  regions,  allowing  better 
monitoring of the seasonality of tourism. 

On the other hand, voluntary or ad hoc initiatives were initiated to make data available on 
TSA, or to allow responses to urgent user needs (e.g. monthly data by guests’ country of 
origin,  in  the  context  of  the  COVID-19  pandemic).  In  2021,  the  Commission  also 
released  first  experimental  data  on  short-stay  accommodation  services  booked  through 
online  collaborative  economy  platforms,  collected  directly  from  the  platforms  via 
agreements.  The  Commission  also  continued  to  explore  innovative  data  sources  and 
methods, to further improve existing statistics or to produce statistics and indicators with 
high policy relevance that were previously not available. 

In terms of relevance, the main challenges for European statistics on tourism for the next 
5  years  are:  a  more  in-depth  assessment  of  tourism’s  economic  importance  via  the 
statistical  framework  of  tourism  satellite  accounting;  measuring  the  sustainability  of 
tourism; and embracing innovative approaches to producing tourism statistics. 

5.2. Accuracy 

Accuracy refers to the closeness of estimates to the unknown true values.  

Member  States  generally  coordinate  the  methodology  for  data  collection  based  on 
national statistical systems and available sources, in line with the subsidiarity principle. 
However,  the  Regulation  requires  that  ‘Member  States  shall  take  any  measures  they 
deem appropriate to maintain the quality of the results’ (Article 8). 

To  monitor  data  quality,  the  Commission  subjects  each  dataset  to  strict  validation 
procedures.  Each  year,  the  Member  States  send  a  metadata  report  covering  the  main 
quality  aspects  of  the  statistics  sent  to  Eurostat.  These  metadata  reports  are  publicly 
available on Eurostat’s website12. 

Since the 2016  report, the Commission  has  explored alternative  approaches to  improve 
coverage of smaller players in the accommodation sector, who are often not covered by 
statistical business registers or administrative tourism registers. The appearance of online 
collaborative economy platforms boosted the importance of this segment of the short-stay 
rentals  market;  it  also  opened  opportunities  to  measure  the  activity  of  these  service 
providers via the digital footprint that they leave on the platforms that connect them with 
potential guests.  

12 https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/cache/metadata/en/tour_occ_esms.htm (for Annex I of the Regulation, 
English only); https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/cache/metadata/en/tour_dem_esms.htm (for Annex II, 
English only). 

5 

 
 
                                                 
In 2020, the Commission signed agreements with four major international platforms13. In 
2021, Eurostat released the first data pursuant to these agreements14.  

Eurostat supports the Member States in exploring innovative ways to improve the quality 
of  tourism  statistics.  This  helped  to  improve  statistics  on  tourism  demand  in  several 
Member  States  by  using  auxiliary  information  from,  for  instance,  mobile  network 
operators or webscraping. Such initiatives will remain a priority for Eurostat, building on 
the reference paper ‘Tourism statistics: early adopters of big data?’15, published in 2017. 

5.3. Timeliness and punctuality 

Timeliness refers to the period between the availability of information and the event or 
phenomenon it describes. Punctuality refers to  the delay between the date of release of 
the data and the target date (the date by which the data should have been delivered). 

European statistics on tourism are generally released a few days after receipt of the data, 
subject to successful validation. Eurostat now publishes EU-27 aggregates for all series; 
if data is not available for all 27 Member States, estimation techniques are used as soon 
as data is available for at least 15 Member States that jointly represent at least 65% of the 
total value of an indicator during a previous reference period. 

Regarding transmission deadlines, in 2020 less than 1 in 9 monthly datasets was not sent 
by the indicated deadline, and only 1 in 50 files arrived more than a week late. It should 
be  noted  that  2020  was  the  first  reference  year  for  shortened  deadlines,  following  the 
entry  into  force  of  Commission  Delegated  Regulation  (EU)  2019/1681.  The  good 
timeliness  of  monthly  accommodation  statistics  led  to  the  inclusion  of  these  series  in 
European statistical Recovery Dashboard16 (established during the pandemic).  

For the annual datasets, due 6 months after the end of the reference year, between 85% 
and 90% of the files arrive within the stipulated deadline. The more persistent cases are 
closely  monitored  by  Eurostat  and  discussed  with  the  national  authorities  at  the 
appropriate  level.  Compliance  reports  are  discussed  with  the  Member  States  at  regular 
intervals. 

Further  improvements  of  the  timeliness  remains  on  the  agenda  of  the  Commission 
(Eurostat). 

5.4. Accessibility and clarity 

Accessibility and clarity refer to the conditions and modalities by which users can obtain, 
use and interpret data. 

All statistics are freely available on Eurostat’s website. Data is available as pre-defined 
tables or as multi-dimensional tables that users can customise according to their research 
needs.  Eurostat  also  makes  customised  extractions  to  address  specific  user  requests;  to 
foster  transparency,  such  extractions  are  made  available  for  the  general  public  via  the 
CIRCABC extranet.  

13 https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/IP_20_194 (English, German and French). 

14 https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/ip_21_3293 (English, German and French). 

15 https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/documents/3888793/8234206/KS-TC-17-004-EN-N.pdf (English only). 

16 https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/cache/recovery-dashboard/  

6 

 
                                                 
Besides  the  data  tables,  users  can  also  consult  regularly  updated  or  ad  hoc  articles 
focusing on specific aspects of tourism, often accompanied by highly visible news items 
or  news  releases.  Finally,  Eurostat  actively  promotes  releases  on  tourism  statistics 
through its various social media channels. 

5.5. Comparability 

Comparability  refers  to  measuring  the  impact  of  differences  in  applied  statistical 
concepts,  measurement  tools  and  procedures  where  statistics  are  compared  between 
geographical areas, sectors, or over time. 

The  Regulation  established  a  common  framework  for  the  systematic  development, 
production  and  dissemination  of  European  statistics  on  tourism  (Article  2).  An 
underlying  objective  of  this  framework  is  to  foster  the  harmonisation  of  concepts, 
definitions,  classifications  and  methodologies.  Eurostat  and  the  national  authorities 
responsible  for  tourism  statistics  discuss  and  align  methodological  issues  in  dedicated 
task  forces,  working  groups  or  expert  groups.  On  a  day-to-day  basis,  recommended 
guidelines in the Methodological Manual for Tourism Statistics17 (Article 10) contribute 
to  harmonised,  comparable  tourism  data  for  the  European  Union.  As  a  result, 
comparability over time and across countries and regions is fairly good. 

5.6. Coherence 

Coherence refers to the adequacy of data, so that it can be reliably combined in different 
ways and for various uses. 

The  statistics  show  a  strong  degree  of  coherence  with  data  produced  by  national  and 
international  organisations.  Cooperation  between  domains  at  Eurostat  or  within  the 
European Statistical System contributed to the coherence of tourism statistics with related 
economic,  business  or  labour  market  data.  To  this  end,  existing  data  from  related 
domains is re-used for a more in-depth analysis of industries that are relevant for tourism. 
In this context, a further improvement of the coherence of sector level data from different 
Eurostat  statistical  series  could  improve  the  analysis  of  industries  belonging  to  the 
tourism ecosystem.  

In  the  future,  a  systematic  implementation  of  tourism  satellite  accounts  could  also 
contribute to stronger coherence with, in particular, national accounts. 

6.  BURDEN AND COST-EFFECTIVENESS 

The Regulation  offers flexibility to  national  data compilers  to  choose the most  suitable 
data  sources  (Article  8):  surveys,  administrative  data  and  appropriate  statistical 
estimation procedures. Burden and cost-effectiveness are typically significant parameters 
in  the  Member  States’  choice  of  data  sources  and  methodology.  Since  the  previous 
report, the potential of new data sources has continued to increase and Article 8 allows, 
in  principle,  the  use  of  such  innovative  sources  or  methods  as  part  of  the  production 
system. 

Burden and cost-effectiveness often involve a trade-off with data quality. Annex I of the 
Regulation allows Member States to limit the scope of observation laid down in Article 

17 https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/documents/3859598/6454997/KS-GQ-14-013-EN-N.pdf/ 

7 

 
                                                 
4(a) to include only establishments above a certain capacity threshold. This limitation of 
scope significantly reduces the burden imposed on the smallest businesses, but can also 
cause  an  under-coverage  of  this  segment  in  official  statistics.  However,  recent 
developments such as exploring data from online collaborative economy platforms helps 
to fill the data gaps in a more cost-effective way. Other innovative approaches currently 
being  explored  by  Eurostat,  in  cooperation  with  the  Member  States,  also  have  the 
potential to address the burden, while enhancing data coverage. 

Finally, the use of rotating modules (data required every 3 years) and optional variables 
or breakdowns helps to limit the burden put on respondents. 

7.  OUTLOOK 

The  implementation  of  Regulation  (EU)  No  692/2011  has  certainly  provided  users  at 
international, national and subnational level with a solid, reliable, harmonised system of 
tourism information. However, ten years on, the tourism sector and the policy or societal 
priorities related to tourism have evolved. Furthermore, official statistics have entered the 
21st century and are trying to move away from traditional, survey-based techniques and 
to modernise the production of statistics.  

Therefore,  the  Commission  (Eurostat)  has  started  exchanging  views  with  users  and 
producers  of  tourism  statistics  to  identify  the  strengths  and  weaknesses  of  the  current 
framework and improve the relevance of indicators. In parallel with this revision process, 
innovation  initiatives  have  led  to  promising  research  on  the  use  of  alternative  data 
sources  and  to  the  release  of  experimental  statistics  comprising  previously  unavailable 
indicators. 

First discussions identified tourism satellite accounts and measuring the sustainability of 
tourism as important dimensions of any revision to the legal basis. It is not a coincidence 
that these topics were already highlighted in the Regulation, albeit as a call to draw up a 
programme  for  pilot  studies  in  these  areas  (Article  5).  In  addition,  the  revision  process 
should take account of the ongoing efforts to collect basic data from new and innovative 
sources with a view to improving the relevance, timeliness and coverage of the statistical 
framework. 

8