ISTAT

Statistics on tourism, supply side in the Directorate for territorial and environmental Statistics (DCAT)

V.le Liegi 13 00198 ROME - ITALY

Capacity: 

The annual census survey "Capacity of tourist accommodation establishments" collects the main structural information regarding the accommodation establishments in Italy. The survey is currently carried out according to the 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. It quantifies, at municipality level, the number of establishments, bed places, bedrooms and bathrooms for hotels and similar accommodation, the number of establishments and bed places for the other collective accommodations. For NACE rev. 2 55.1 (hotels and similar accommodations) capacity data are also provided by "size class" (small establishments: less than 25 bedrooms; medium-sized establishments: between 25 and 99 bedrooms; large establishments: 100 or more bedrooms). Furthermore, from data 2014, it began collecting also the data on the number of establishments having one or more bedrooms accessible for persons with reduced mobility and the number of these bedrooms.

The Istat form CTT/4 is filled by the Statistical Offices of the Regions and Autonomous Provinces which, if necessary, can make use of other offices of the same administration, holders and / or producers of the requested data, and / or of other territorial bodies in charge of tourism (depending on the local regulations) which provide to transmit it to Istat. The survey has been carrying out since 1956 and the contained information has been gradually extended over time, taking into consideration new types of tourism accommodation establishments (farmhouses, bed and breakfasts, etc.), detailing hotel categories and collecting variables at municipality level.

Occupancy: 

Monthly statistics on “Occupancy in tourist accommodation establishments” have been processed by Istat since 1956 through a census survey that represents the main source of information on internal (domestic and inbound) tourism available in Italy. The survey is currently carried out according to the 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. The main variables collected are: arrivals and nights spent by residents (by region of residence) and non-residents (by country of residence) at tourist accommodation establishments. For NACE rev. 2 55.1 (hotels and similar accommodation), the occupancy rates of bed places and the occupancy rate of bedrooms are also calculated. 

Daily data on occupancy are sent by the establishments’owners to the intermediate territorial bodies in charge of the survey (Statistical Offices of the Regions and Autonomous Provinces which, if necessary, can make use of other offices of the same administration and/or of other territorial bodies in charge of tourism, depending on the local regulations). Then, these last one summarize the data monthly, with municipal details, and transmit to Istat a file (according to a record layout "MOV/C") uploading data directly by the purpose-built Istat websites INDATA. The information contained has been gradually extended over time, taking into consideration new types of tourism accommodation establishments (farmhouses, bed and breakfasts, etc.), detailing hotel categories, entering the regions of residence for Italian residents, and collecting variables at municipality level.

Not applicable.

NACE Rev.2 - 55.1, 55.2 and 55.3

Local kind-of-activity unit (accommodation establishment) offering short-stay accommodation to tourists.

Coverage - Time [data comparable since (YYYY)]

Not applicable.

Not applicable.

Not applicable.

International: Regulation (EC) No 223/2009 on European statistics

National: respect the principle of statistical secrecy (Article 9 of Italian Legislative Decree no. 322/89)

The National Statistics Institute takes all the necessary logical, physical and administrative measures to ensure the data protection in all the stages of the statistical process.

Istat’s policy on data dissemination works as follow:

- populating data to the datawarehouse I.stat is announced ex–post (on the public weekly agenda);

- press releases “Annual report” has agreed dissemination date, set in advance and put on a public calendar (also reported on the public weekly agenda).

Capacity : Release of the yearly data - on June 2023.
Occupancy : Release of the monthly data every month (+3, every day 14/15 of the month); final and yearly data on June 2023; Report on December 2022 (on provisional data).

https://www.istat.it/en/analysis-and-products/press-releases

The release of the data is for all users. They are informed by a public weekly agenda of upcoming releases and events: https://www.istat.it/en/analysis-and-products/press-releases. If the users require the agenda, it can be sent via email. Then, on Istat website there is an information section (https://www.istat.it/en/information-and-services) with other advices for journalists, researchers, students, respondents.

Capacity : Release of the yearly data - on June 2023.
Occupancy : Release of the monthly data every month (+3, every day 14/15 of the month); final and yearly data on June 2023; Report on December 2022 (on provisional data).

Statistica Today –  https://www.istat.it/it/archivio/279280

Istat flagships as Annuario statistico italiano (chapter 19 dedicated to tourism), Italia in cifre, Noi Italia:
https://www.istat.it/en/analysis-and-products/publications
Italian Historical Statistical:
http://seriestoriche.istat.it/index.php?id=1&no_cache=1&L=1
Istat Monographic publication:

Rapporto Annuale 2023 – Chapter 4. Focus p. 166 : https://www.istat.it/it/archivio/286191
Rapporto sulla competitività dei settori produttivi - edizione 2022 – https://www.istat.it/it/archivio/268378 - Focus p. 79
Rapporto sulla competitività dei settori produttivi - edizione 2021 - https://www.istat.it/it/archivio/255558 - Chapter 2, p. 64
Rapporto sulla competitività dei settori produttivi - edizione 2020 – https://www.istat.it/it/archivio/240112- Focus p. 70
2023 SDGs Report. Statistical information for 2030 Agenda in Italy” - https://www.istat.it/it/archivio/285778  (SDG 12.b.1)
Rapporto territorio 2020 – focus A 5.1 - https://www.istat.it/storage/rapporti-tematici/territorio2020/capitolo_5.pdf
Rapporto Annuale 2019 - Chapter 2: https://www.istat.it/it/archivio/230897

Data warehouse I.Stat: http://dati.istat.it/?lang=en

Available upon request at the contact centre for all users: https://contact.istat.it/s/?language=en_US

Infographics: 

https://www.istat.it/it/archivio/241980

For national dissemination: capacity variables by sub-type of accommodation establishment (see point 3.2 "Classification system"). Occupancy variables (arrivals and nights spent) by sub-type of accommodation establishment (see point 3.2 "Classification system") and by regions of residence for Italian residents. For both, dissemination up to the municipality detail.

Capacity:

https://www.istat.it/it/archivio/210783        

Occupancy:

http://www.istat.it/it/archivio/15073

A short guide on Tourism Statistics (by the WG Istat&Bank of Italy): https://www.istat.it/it/archivio/243826

Capacity: http://siqual.istat.it/SIQual/visualizza.do?id=5000158

Occupancy: http://siqual.istat.it/SIQual/visualizza.do?id=5000159

Not applicable.

Both for capacity and occupancy very good, although users sometimes ask for more timely data than those released.

12.3.1 Completeness

12.3.2 Thresholds used ("limitation of the scope")

Capacity: Survey on Capacity is not a sample survey, so the data do not contain sampling error. On the other hand, it has non-sampling errors, such as:

1) Errors due to over-coverage/under coverage: registers are managed by local authorities or tourism bodies so accuracy of coverage varies from region to region. When possible, Istat compares information deriving from other surveys. Moreover, we go back to the local tourism bodies' respondents.

2) Other types of non-sampling errors: errors in the reporting of data by providers, errors in the process of capturing data, definition and classification errors etc.; Istat, together with local tourism bodies, tries to reduce non-sampling errors to a minimum.

For the survey on Capacity, the non-response rate was 0.

Occupancy: Survey on Occupancy is not a sample survey, so the data do not contain sampling error. On the other hand, it has non-sampling errors, such as:

1) Non-response errors: Istat faces two situations: 1) local tourism bodies that for any reason are not able to provide data at all or are late for the production of the monthly provisional data; 2) partial-coverage of the occupancy in some type of accommodation establishments for the production of the monthly provisional data.

2) Errors due to over-coverage/under coverage: registers are managed by local authorities or tourism bodies so accuracy of coverage varies from region to region. When possible, Istat compares information deriving from other surveys. Moreover, we go back to the local tourism bodies' respondents.

3) Other types of non-sampling errors: errors in the reporting of data by providers, errors in the process of capturing data, definition and classification errors etc.; Istat, together with local tourism bodies, tries to reduce non-sampling errors to a minimum.

13.2.1 Sampling errors - indicators (Occupancy only)

13.2.2 Additional comments on sampling error

13.3.1 Coverage-errors

13.3.2 Unit non-response (for the reference month mentioned under 5.2)

13.3.3 Methods used for dealing with/minimising unit-non response

13.3.4 Item non-response

13.3.5 Additional comments on non-sampling error (e.g. in case the reference month is very different from other months in terms of non-response)

See 3.7

Some difference may occur due to different regional rules used for classification of tourist establishments.

Capacity: Good coherence with data from the survey "Occupancy" and the survey "Italian Farmhouses".

Occupancy: Good coherence with data from the survey "Capacity"  and the sample survey "Italy’s international tourism" carried out by Bank of Italy (considering the differences in the purposes of the survey, definitions and methodologies used).

Coherence between annual and monthly data: Good

Cost and burden are not systematically collected

18.1.1 Source data

18.1.2 Population frame

18.1.3 Sampling design

18.1.4 Other or additional comments on source data, population frame or sampling design (e.g. differences per NACE class)

18.3.1 Type of survey

18.3.2 Data collection methods

Capacity: Specific software is used to check the data, to identify and to treat errors. For adjustment for non-response we contact periodically the local tourism bodies. For the final annual data, missing data are replicated with those ones of the last year available. 

Occupancy: Specific software is used to check the data, to identify and to treat errors. For adjustment for non-response we contact periodically the local tourism bodies. The identification of errors is made by Istat experts through an interactive microediting procedure (mainly checking the consistence between the variables and the changes compared to the previous year) on the data of all the municipalities. A mask identifies outliers or incorrect data, then they are validated (corrected or confirmed with motivation). If there are particularly serious errors then is made a follow-up on the intermediate bodies which transmitted the data. For adjustment for non-response, an estimation method  is used to provide provisional data. For the final annual data, missing data are replicated with those ones of the last year available. 

Not applicable.

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