2018

Annual data= 2018

Monthly data = August 2018

Regulation 692/2011

Regulation 1051/2011

Central Statistics Office: Administrative data received from our airport authorities and sea carriers are reliable control totals for the total number of passengers entering and leaving Ireland on overseas routes. These control totals  are used in the grossing of our sample surveys and add to the reliability of our Tourism data. Furthermore, all routes are covered by our tourism surveys.

CSO: One of the main weakness of the PCI survey is that there is no coverage of flights/sailings between the hours of midnight and six am. Furthermore, while the PCI collects data on the total number of nights spent in each of the required tourism accommodation types, it does not collect data on the number of arrivals. Sample sizes for some of the residency breakdowns as set out in the legislation can be small, leading to volatile inter-annual data with a high variance. We also currently have some difficulty determining passengers travelling for 'business reasons' from those who are travelling to work in Ireland. The PCI also currently allows passengers to submit 'group returns', i.e. one survey form can be completed for groups of passengers that are travelling together. Finally, as the PCI is a 'self completion' paper based survey, this raises some concerns about the quality of the data collected.  All of these issues will be addressed by the CSO with the migration of the tourism surveys to an electronic data capture, interviewer led survey which is currently being development.

CSO: There are no quality improvements compared with 2016. All efforts to imporve data quality are concentrated on the development of the new electronic data capture survey which will be interviewer led and include validation checks on all key variables and improving the sample selection methodology used.   

See: Regulation 692/2011

Regular user meetings are held with all relevant stakeholders to ensure that the tourism data collected by Failte Ireland is as relevant and timely as possible to meet user needs. The main users of our data are as follows: The Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport; Tourism Ireland; Irish Tourism Industry Confederation (ITIC); Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency (NISRA).

Compliant with the requirements of Regulation on tourism statistics 692/2011 as well as recommendations laid down in the Methodological Manual for tourism statistics.

Capacity (Annex I, Section 1)
All the requirements of the Regulation on Tourism Statistics and the recommendations as laid down in the methodological manual are considered when preparing the capacity data. There are no thresholds for registering with Fáilte Ireland. Their coverage for hotels, guesthouses, hostels, caravan and campsites and group self-catering schemes (group properties of more than 7 units) is complete as registration is mandatory under Irish law for such accommodation businesses to operate.  However, as registration for other forms of accommodation is voluntary, the level of under coverage is unknown.

Occupancy (Annex I, Section 2)
All the requirements of the Regulation on Tourism Statistics and the recommendations as laid down in the methodological manual are considered when preparing the occupancy data.

Fáilte Ireland: occupancy data is provided by Fáilte Ireland.  All occupancy data is based on sample surveys weighted to the known population on Fáilte Ireland’s Register, which does not have a threshold.  The true population of hotels, guesthouses, hostels, caravan and campsites and group self-catering schemes (group properties of more than 7 units) is known. However, the true population for other tourism accommodation local kind of activity units is unknown.  Therefore while all tourism accommodation local kind of activity units are covered, the true population is only known for hotels, guesthouses, hostels, caravan and campsites and group self-catering schemes (group properties of more than 7 units).  All LAU2s are covered for the year. 

CSO: The PCI is conducted at all international air and sea ports in Ireland. Details on nights spent by non-residents in all accommodation types is collected. While the survey is designed to cover all days and routes, there is no coverage of flights/sailings between the hours of midnight and six am. While the PCI collects data on the total number of nights spent in each of the required tourism accommodation types, it does not collect data on the number of arrivals. Sample sizes for some of the residency breakdowns as set out in the legislation can be small, leading to volatile inter-annual data with a high variance.

Capacity (Annex I, Section 1)
Hotels by national definition must have a minimum of 10 bedrooms and guest houses must have a minimum of 7 bedrooms. Establishments below these thresholds are classified as 'bed and breakfasts' which also fall within the scope of NACE 55.1.

Occupancy (Annex I, Section 2)
No threshold used

Capacity (Annex I, Section 1)
No threshold used

Occupancy (Annex I, Section 2)
No threshold used

Capacity (Annex I, Section 1)
No threshold used

Occupancy (Annex I, Section 2)
No threshold used

Not available.

Not available.

Not available.

Not available.

Not available.

Not available.

Not available.

Not available.

Fáilte Ireland:  As with all sample surveys, there is inevitably sampling error.  However, Fáilte Ireland endeavours to ensure that the sample is representative of the population by stratifying the sample by accommodation type and location.  As these are business to business surveys, we are reliant on individual businesses to provide accurate data.  Despite issuing numerous reminders, response rates are declining which inevitably impacts on data quality.

The breakdown of resident and non-resident bednights is collected by Failte Ireland. However, the breakdown of non-residents by country of residence is not available and a detailed breakdown is estimated by applying the ratio of total non-resident bednights by country of residence from the CSO's PCI survey to the Failte Ireland bednight data. Similarly, estimates of arrivals by country of residence are derived by applying the CSO's average length of stay by country of residence to the number of derived bednights as calculated by Failte Ireland. 

Furthermore, in the case of certain categories of accommodation, eg, hostels and caravan/camping, the number of establishments is very small and they are highly seasonal by nature leading to a further erosion of the population available to sample.

CSO: The PCI survey is a self-completion survey and therefore is subject to some inherent weaknesses. 

PCI Sample Size by NACE - Non Residents:  (Note: a) The sum of observations by NACE is greater than the total number of observations for Naces 55.1 to 55.3 as some observations will have spent nights in more than one type of tourism accommodation establishment b) The sum of observations by NACE is less than the total sample size due to the number of overnight tourists who don't spend any night in accommodation types covered by NACEs 55.1 to 55.3) :

PCI Annual No of eligible non resident observations: Nace 55.1 to 55.3 : 37,754forms covering 78,806 passengers

PCI Annual No of eligible non resident observations: Nace 55.1 : 32,669 forms covering 67,846 passengers

PCI Annual No of eligible non resident observations: Nace 55.2 : 6,235 forms covering 13,686 passengers

PCI Annual No of eligible non resident observations: Nace 55.3 :  903 forms covering 2,046 passengers

PCI Monthly No of eligible non resident observations (August) : Nace 55.1 to 55.3 : 3,396 forms covering 8,049 passengers

PCI Monthly No of eligible non resident observations (August): Nace 55.1 : 2,791 forms covering 6,495 passengers

PCI Monthly No of eligible non resident observations (August): Nace 55.2 : 681 forms covering 1,762 passengers

PCI Monthly No of eligible non resident observations (August): Nace 55.3 :  265 forms covering 700 passengers

Not relevant as all units belong to the target population.

Capacity:

Over coverage is not a problem as tourism establishments register just once each year and checks are made to ensure that there are no duplicates on the register.

Occupancy:

Over coverage caused by surveying ineligible passengers does not appear to be a serious issue for the PCI. In 2017, just 43 ineligible non resident forms covering 64 passengers were completed for the PCI survey. These were deemed ineligible as their stated reason for making their journey was not tourism. However, it should be noted that we currently have some difficulty determining which passengers are travelling for 'business reasons' from those who are travelling to work in Ireland. In addition to the 43 ineligible non resident forms, a further 229 PCI forms representing 494 passengers (both Residents and Non Residents) were also rejected from the sample during the editing process. These surveys are rejected mainly because either they failed to enter their country of residence or they completed the incorrect form (i.e. a non resident passenger inadvertently completed a PCI survey form that is intended for Irish residents). The PCI also currently allows passengers to submit 'group returns', i.e. one survey form can be completed for groups of passengers that are travelling together. This raises the issue of duplicate group returns. Every effort is made to identify and eliminate duplicate group returns by manually checking all group returns received on the same date, time period and location with the same duration, number of passengers and reason for travel. The number of identified duplicate returns is not measured but is known to be very small (estimated at less than 20 duplicate returns per annum covering approximately 39 passengers). The CSO will address the issue of duplicate returns with the move from paper based surveys to CAPI.

Capacity: 

Fáilte Ireland’s coverage for hotels, guesthouses, hostels, caravan and campsites and group self-catering schemes (group properties of more than 7 units) is complete as registration is mandatory under Irish law for such accommodation businesses to operate. However, as registration for other forms of accommodation, i.e., Bed & Breakfasts and individual self-catering units, is voluntary, the level of undercoverage is unknown. On-going efforts are being made to deal with under coverage as Failte Ireland are putting considerable effort into encouraging participation in the registration system. 

Occupancy: 

The data on occupancy is also provided by Fáilte Ireland. Samples are selected using the same population frame that is used for the capacity data, namely, Fáilte Ireland’s Register. Therefore, the issues that apply to the capacity population frame also applies to the occupancy population frame. Namely, there is full coverage of hotels, guesthouses, (NACE 55.1) hostels, group self-catering schemes (NACE 55.2) and caravan and campsites (NACE 55.3) but undercoverage of Bed & Breakfasts (NACE 55.1) and individual self-catering units (NACE 55.2). The level of undercoverage is unknown.

While the PCI sample size for non-resident overnight tourism trips in 2017 was 53,914 survey forms covering 105,618 non resident overseas passengers (4,732 surveys covering 10,600 passengers for August 2017), no data is collected from overseas passengers travelling between 12 midnight and 6 am. The CSO is currently addressing this issue with the planned recruitment of additional interviewers to cover these early/late time periods.

CSO: 1 PCI return representing 1 passenger

CSO: 1 PCI return representing 2 passengers

CSO: None

Failte Ireland: Peak Month: Sample size = 293.

CSO Peak Month (August 2017 Sample size = 6,495 relevant passengers

Failte Ireland: Peak Month: Sample size = 180.

CSO Peak Month (August 2017):Sample size = 1,762 relevant passengers

Failte Ireland: Peak Month: Sample size = 30.

CSO Peak Month (August 2017):Sample size = 700 relevant passengers

CSO: Not available

CSO: Not available

CSO: Not available

CSO: Not available

CSO: Not available

CSO: Not available

Failte Ireland = None.

CSO: Peak Month (August 2017): There were a total of 24 rejected PCI returns which covered 48 passengers for all NACE Groups . As these returns didn't provide a breakdown of nights spent by NACE group, we cannot allocate the rejected PCI returns to individual NACE groups. 

Failte Ireland = None.

CSO: Peak Month (August 2017): There were a total of 24 rejected PCI returns which covered 48 passengers for all NACE Groups . As these returns didn't provide a breakdown of nights spent by NACE group, we cannot allocate the rejected PCI returns to individual NACE groups. 

Failte Ireland = None.

CSO: Peak Month (August 2017): There were a total of 24 rejected PCI returns which covered 48 passengers for all NACE Groups . As these returns didn't provide a breakdown of nights spent by NACE group, we cannot allocate the rejected PCI returns to individual NACE groups. 

CSO: Not available

CSO: Not available

CSO: Not available

CSO: Not available

CSO: Not available

CSO: Not available

CSO: Not available

CSO: Not available

CSO: Not available

Capacity: Not applicable as based on administrative register.  The capacity data is collected as part of Failte Ireland's registration process and as registration is mandatory for hotels, guesthouses, hostels, caravan and campsites and group self-catering schemes (group properties of more than 7 units), there should be a zero unit non response rate for these categories of tourism establishments. The unit non response rate for other forms of accommodation is unknown. 

Occupancy: 

Failte Ireland: A high level of telephone reminders are made to try and maximize response rates.
CSO: The PCI survey is translated into 9 languages other than English to faciliate response. When enumerators issue surveys to passengers, they explain the purpose of the survey, how simple it is to complete etc in the hope that this will encourage response. Where necessary and feasible, enumerators will conduct a face to face interview to improve response rates.

As the unit non response rate is unknown, there are no methods used for dealing with unit non response.

Item and Unit non-response: The number of non contacts and refusals is currently not captured for the PCI and therefore it is not possible to estimate unit non-response rates. However, it is planned that non response will be recorded when we move to CAPI (Computer Assisted Personal Interviews).

Capacity: Not applicable as based on administrative register. Item non response rate: For bedrooms, there should be a zero item non response rate as the supply of this information is mandatory as part of the registration process for all tourism accommodation establishments other than for self-catering and caravan/camping establishments. For self-catering and caravan/camping establishments, estimates are made for bedplaces.

Occupancy: 
Failte Ireland: None.
CSO: Not relevant as only those surveys which have completed bednights and country of residence are considered as eligible units.

Not relevant.

Number of ineligible units / elements - Capacity: Data on capacity is derived from an administrative data source (Fáilte Ireland’s Register) where registration for hotels and guesthouses is required by law, therefore there is zero non-response rate. Registration for bed and breakfasts is voluntary. As the data is derived from an administrative source rather than from a survey and the only known population is that which is on the Register, this question is not relevant.

Unit non-response, Occupancy: CSO: We are currently developing an electronic data capture system which would enable the recording of non response rates.

While the PCI survey is available in a number of languages, there may be issues with the interpretation of the questions leading to response errors. A further source of non sampling error arises from the technology used to process our data. The survey forms are scanned into our database. The scanning process can lead to incorrect values being read into the system which may not always be picked up during verification and editing. The planned move to CAPI (Computer Assisted Personal Interviews) will eliminate this type of data entry errors.

There is no delay in the publication of capacity data as this is collected and published by Failte Ireland within the reference year.

The CSO PCI 2017 annual data used for non-resident occupancy estimates was published by the the CSO within T+ 73 days. Data on domestic bednights  for 2017 was published by the CSO by t+94 days.

The PCI data is published each quarter. The average timeliness for the publication of 2017 quarterly data was t+73 days, with the annual data published within t+73 days.

See 3.8.1

Capacity (Annex I, Section 1)
There is a major break in the series after 2011 due to a change in the  methodology adopted from 2012 onwards.

Occupancy (Annex I, Section 2)
There is a major break in the series after 2011 due to a fundamental change in the methodology adopted from 2012 onwards.

In 2012, to ensure consistency between the capacity and occupancy data, responsibility for providing occupancy data to Eurostat was transferred to Failte Ireland from the CSO. This has led to a major break in the series from 2012 onwards as different data sources and estimation techniques are now used.

There is a further major break in the series after 2014 due to the adoption of a new methodology and research agency.

See 3.8.2

Capacity (Annex I, Section 1)
There is a major break in the series after 2011 due to a change in the  methodology adopted from 2012 onwards.

Occupancy (Annex I, Section 2)
There is a major break in the series after 2011 due to a fundamental change in the methodology adopted from 2012 onwards.

In 2012, to ensure consistency between the capacity and occupancy data, responsibility for providing occupancy data to Eurostat was transferred to Failte Ireland from the CSO. This has led to a major break in the series from 2012 onwards as different data sources and estimation techniques are now used.

There is a further major break in the series after 2014 due to the adoption of a new methodology and research agency.

See 3.8.3

Capacity (Annex I, Section 1)
There is a major break in the series after 2011 due to a change in the  methodology adopted from 2012 onwards.

Occupancy (Annex I, Section 2)
There is a major break in the series after 2011 due to a fundamental change in the methodology adopted from 2012 onwards.

In 2012, to ensure consistency between the capacity and occupancy data, responsibility for providing occupancy data to Eurostat was transferred to Failte Ireland from the CSO. This has led to a major break in the series from 2012 onwards as different data sources and estimation techniques are now used.

There is a further major break in the series after 2014 due to the adoption of a new methodology and research agency.

Capacity (Annex I, Section 1)
Fáilte Ireland Register

Occupancy (Annex I, Section 2)
Failte Ireland Accommodation Occupancy Survey;

CSO's Passenger Card Inquiry survey (PCI), the results of which are  published as the 'Tourism and Travel' release.

Capacity (Annex I, Section 1)
Fáilte Ireland Register

Occupancy (Annex I, Section 2)
Failte Ireland Accommodation Occupancy Survey;

CSO's Passenger Card Inquiry survey (PCI), the results of which are  published as the 'Tourism and Travel' release. (See attached the PCI forms for air and sea passengers. Please note that only the Non Resident Section of each form is relevant for the purpose of this report)

Capacity (Annex I, Section 1)
Administrative Source (Failte Ireland Register)

Occupancy (Annex I, Section 2)
Sample Surveys (CSO's PCI and HTS Surveys and Failte Ireland's Accommodation Occupancy Survey).

Fáilte Ireland Register is updated annually.  Closing date for registration is 31^stDecember each year.

Fáilte Ireland’s coverage for hotels and guesthouses is complete as registration is mandatory under Irish law for such accommodation businesses to operate.  However, as registration for bed and breakfasts is voluntary, the level of undercoverage is unknown.

Fáilte Ireland’s coverage for hotels and guesthouses is complete as registration is mandatory under Irish law for such accommodation businesses to operate.  However, as registration for bed and breakfasts is voluntary, the level of undercoverage is unknown.

CSO: There are no known coverage errors of the population frame. There is 100% coverage of all overseas passengers travelling into and out of Ireland.

Capacity (Annex I, Section 1)
Census of all registered local kind of activity units.

Occupancy (Annex I, Section 2)
Failte Ireland: Stratified random sample of registered establishments. CSO: PCI - random sample of overseas passengers travelling into and out of the Republic of Ireland. In total, approximately 175,300 passengers were sampled in 2017, of which 105,600 were non-resident overnight tourists. A sample of flights and sailings are selected to facilitate proper representation of routes, day/night and weekday/weekend sailings and flights.