Tourism expenditure

Tourism is not an industry in itself but is related to a large number of products and services which are provided to tourists from various industries. The figures are consistent with the draft framework of the National Accounts (NR) and may be compared to already existing macroeconomic key indicators such as the total value added in basic prices and employment in the Netherlands. As such, the tourism accounts offer an integrated macroeconomic overview of the importance of tourism to the economy.

Tourism expenditure can be defined as ‘total spending by tourists or for the benefit of tourists before, during and after the trip and stay at the place of destination’. Therefore, expenditure is classified as tourism expenditure once the person who is spending is a tourist. Included are all domestic and foreign tourism expenditure with Dutch companies.

Based on tourism expenditure, the ‘demand side approach’ helps derive tourism production, value added and employment. Sources used for expenditure include surveys conducted by NBTC/Kantar and CBS among various types of tourists. Other important sources are the National Accounts and Labour Accounts.

Subsequently, the expenditure is broken down by groups of goods. Each group of goods is allocated to a main producer (Dutch industries and manufacturers abroad). Subsequently, production, value added and employment (jobs, employed persons and labour years) are determined. This exercise, in which the level of the macroeconomic key indicators for tourism is re-calibrated, takes place once every five years. In the intervening years, a broad range of indicators are used to extrapolate these figures. The emphasis in these years is on determining the correct developments relative to the previous year rather than the correct level.

The final year in the tourism accounts series (2018) is based on provisional figures of the National Accounts. Currently, the year 2017 is based on definitive figures. This involves some minor adjustments to the 2017 figures. Total expenditure rose 0.1 percentage point faster than was originally calculated. The results of these adjustments have been incorporated in the figures presented in this news release. The series can be found in the StatLine databank.