National Statistics Office

Living Conditions, Tourism and Culture Unit

National Statistics Office

Tourism & Education Statistics

Lascaris

Valletta VLT 2000

Malta

The objective of the survey on collective accommodation establishments is to estimate the utilisation rate of bed-places of all collective accommodation establishments in Malta and Gozo.

The variables collected from the survey are the following:

On a monthly basis:

• Number of non-residents;
• Number of residents;
• Nights spent by non-residents;
• Nights spent by residents;
• Number of room nights sold to non-residents;
• Number of room nights sold to residents;
• Number of bedrooms;
• Number of bed-places;
• Number of days the establishment was closed during the month.

On a triennial basis: 

• Number of bedrooms accessible for persons with reduced mobility, including wheelchair users

The collection of the above variables and the calculation of occupancy levels satisfy European Regulation's requirements (EU NO 692/2011). The survey is distributed monthly to all collective accommodation establishments namely hotels, tourist villages, guesthouses and hostels.

NACE (Rev. 2) is used in order to identify and classify the target population for this enquiry.

Collective accommodation establishments are divided into the following categories:

• 5-star hotels,
• 4-star hotels,
• 3-star hotels,
• 2-star hotels,
• Guesthouses,
• Hostels,
• Tourist villages.

NACE Rev.2 - 55.1, 55.2 and 55.3 are covered.

Additionally, NACE 55.3 is confidential for the Maltese Islands, because there is only one active camp site.

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

Coverage - Time [data comparable since (YYYY)]

Not applicable.

The unit of measure used is the collective accommodation establishment. Information collected on a monthly basis includes the number of bedrooms, bed-places, arrivals, guest nights and room nights. Additionally, the bedrooms and bed-place occupancy rates are then calculated.

Not applicable.

At National level:

Confidentiality is one of the major principles guiding the activities of the NSO.

Article 40 of the MSA Act stipulates the restrictions on the use of information and in Article 41, the prohibition of disclosure of information. Furthermore, Section IX of the Act (Offences and Penalties) lays down the measures to be taken in case of unlawful exercise of any officer of statistics regarding confidentiality of data. No cases of breaches in the law have been recorded to date.

Since its inception, the NSO has always operated within a culture of strict confidentiality to which it is also bound by the provisions of the Data Protection Act of 2000. This Act, which came fully into effect on July 15, 2003, seeks to protect individuals against the violation of their privacy by the processing of personal data.

During 2009, the NSO has set up a Statistical Disclosure Committee to ensure that statistical confidentiality is observed, especially when requests for microdata are received by the NSO.

Upon employment, staff is informed of the rules and duties pertaining to confidential information and its treatment. According to the MSA Act, before commencing work, every employee is required to take an oath of secrecy whose text is included in the Act.

At European level:

Regulation (EC) No 223/2009 on European statistics (recital 24 and Article 20(4) of 11 March 2009 (OJ L 87, p. 164), stipulates the need to establish common principles and guidelines ensuring the confidentiality of data used for the production of European statistics and the access to those confidential data with due account for technical developments and the requirements of users in a democratic society.

Data requests are processed individually and prior to dissemination of such data, National Statistics Office undertakes the appropriate steps to ensure complete anonymisation of the data in question.

Moreover, if less than three collective accommodation establishments are present in a particular category, then such data will not be disclosed to any entity.

Data is published locally on a quarterly basis and uploaded monthly on the NSO's online statistical database (StatDB).

The NSO release calendar can be found at: https://nso.gov.mt/calendars

An internal policy on dissemination is in place to govern the dissemination of official statistics in an impartial, independent and timely manner, making them available simultaneously to all users. The NSO’s primary channel for the dissemination of official statistics is the NSO website. Tailored requests for statistical information may also be submitted through the said website.

Monthly transmissions. Quarterly news releases are published.

Quarterly news releases are published on the NSO website and they can be found at: https://nso.gov.mt/tourism/

A set of pre-defined tables are found in two publications: Malta in Figures and Regional Statistics MALTA published on the NSO website and they can be found at: https://nso.gov.mt/published-publications/

The online statistical database (StatDB) can be found at: https://statdb.nso.gov.mt. In addition, this information can also be downloaded from Eurostat's online database through: https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/web/tourism/database.

Micro-data are not disseminated.

The data are very sought by the media, researchers, students and policy makers. Such users can request information through the NSO website (https://workflow.gov.mt/Runtime/Runtime/Form/01+NSO+Request+for+Statistical+Information/?language) and data are provided at aggregated level.

Work processes and procedures for the compilation of ACCOMSTAT are documented in a standardised reporting template and aligned with the GSBPM model. The model covers all phases of the statistical production process, from the initial stages of identifying what statistics are needed, to the final stages of dissemination and evaluation. GSBPM is only available internally and may be accessed by all NSO employees.

A brief methodological section can be additionally found in each published news release. Furthermore, the tourism statistics manual can be referred to, for further definitions and for further queries, and this can be found at: https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/en/web/products-manuals-and-guidelines/-/ks-gq-14-013

A standardised methodological report related to the Collective Accommodation Establishments (data collection tool used to collect information for supply side data (Annex I of the Regulation, capacity and occupancy of tourist accommodation establishments)) is available online on the NSO website: (https://metadata.nso.gov.mt/reports.aspx?id=35), with information about quality, statistical processing, relevance, confidentiality, dissemination policy, accuracy, reliability, timeliness, punctuality, comparability, coherence, etc.

The NSO has also developed an internal Quality Management Framework (QMF) which is built on common requirements of the ESS Code of Practice (ESS CoP). A document was prepared to include a set of general quality guidelines spanning over all statistical domains. Assuring methodological soundness is an integral part of the QMF, nonetheless, the document spans also on other areas related to institutional aspects.

Quality checks on the data received are carried out as follows:

• For those who opt to enter the data online through computer aided web interviewing (CAWI), a set of pre-defined cross-validations are carried out as the data are being entered.
• For questionnaires received electronically or by post, the data are verified as soon as it is received by conducting certain calculations and checks.
• Moreover, the response rate is closely monitored for each reference month and particular stratum. In particular, full-response among the 5-star hotels is required due to the size of these hotels. Other large establishments, in terms of bedrooms and bed-places, are also closely monitored. Gozitan establishments are also closely monitored as the count of establishments is small. 

The NSO has developed an internal Quality Management Framework (QMF) which is built on common requirements of the ESS Code of Practice (ESS CoP). A document was prepared to include a set of general quality guidelines spanning over all statistical domains. Assuring methodological soundness is an integral part of the QMF, nonetheless, the document spans also on other areas related to institutional aspects.

Every five to seven years, the NSO participates in a Peer Review exercise through which the compliance of its operations with principles of the ESS CoP is assessed by an expert team. Peer Reviews are indeed part of the European Statistical System (ESS) strategy to implement the ESS CoP.

Each NSI is expected to provide information as requested by a standard self-assessment questionnaire.  Following this, an expert team visits the office to meet NSI representatives and main stakeholders.  Peer Reviews result in a compliance report and the listing of a set of Improvement Actions which need to be followed up by the NSI.  The last round of Peer Reviews was carried out in October 2022.

[Optional]

12.3.1 Completeness

12.3.2 Thresholds used ("limitation of the scope")

The Office carries out a monthly census among all the collective accommodation establishments in order to ensure the highest quality standards. Monthly non-response is estimated at around 4.5 per cent and missing information is imputed basing on the previous year and month’s data. Each questionnaire is vetted upon receipt and the respondent is contacted directly in case of any queries. All queries are treated on a case by case basis given that the total number of establishments in Malta is relatively small.

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

Data is fully comparable.

Full Coherence with the border tourism survey.

Coherence between annual and montly data: Full Coherence

Cost and burden are not systematically collected.

Since it is a monthly survey, there is a high burden on the respondents. Moreover, a significant costs for a small Office for: software (website); monthly analysis; and monthly collection.

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

Item non-response is imputed using appropriate mathematical methods which take on board longitudinal data.

Not applicable.

[Optional]