Socio-economic impacts of tourism in the European Union - A pilot estimation framework based on Tourism Satellite Accounts

The tourism sector has been indicated by the European Commission as one of the 14 strategic industries to build a stronger single market for Europe’s recovery after the COVID-19 pandemic shock. Despite the importance of tourism, the data describing its socioeconomic impact are still limited and fragmented. The direct economic impact of tourism is appraised through the Tourism Satellite Account (TSA) framework compiled by National Statistical Institutes under the coordination of Eurostat. TSA data have an unrealized potential to evaluate not only direct, but also indirect and induced effect of tourism on the economy. This report documents a pilot study coordinated by the JRC in collaboration with Eurostat and DG GROW carrying two main tasks: (i) the collation and harmonization of TSA data from different EU countries, and (ii) their combination with input-output tables to estimate the direct and indirect economic impact of tourism in terms of total consumption, value added and employment. The methodology is applied to a sample of 10 EU countries, and the results are compared with estimates provided by official statistics and other sources. This study demonstrates that TSA data can be harnessed to assess the socioeconomic contribution of tourism and support EU policy in a more complete and systematic way. However, the study also identified issues in the availability, completeness and consistency of TSA data, from which suggestions to improve TSA data production, dissemination and publication are drawn.