Statistics Explained

Archive:European Neighbourhood Policy - South - tourism statistics

Data extracted in August 2016. Most recent data: Further Eurostat information, Main tables and Database. Planned article update: August 2017.

This article is part of an online publication and presents information relating to tourism in the European Union (EU) and the 10 countries that form the European Neighbourhood Policy-South (ENP-South) region, namely, Algeria, Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Palestine [1], Syria and Tunisia. It highlights recent developments over the period 2005–15, with information on capacity (the number of bed places) and international demand (the number of arrivals of non-residents at hotels and similar accommodation) for inbound tourism, as well as information on the number of outbound trips made by tourists.

Table 1: Number of bed places in hotels and similar accommodation establishments, 2005–15
(thousands)
Source: Eurostat (med_to22) and (tour_cap_nat)
Figure 1: Developments for bed places in hotels and similar accommodation establishments, 2005–15 (1)
(2005 = 100)
Source: Eurostat (med_to22)
Figure 2: Capacity of bed places in hotels and similar accommodation establishments, 2005 and 2015 (1)
(number of bed places per 1 000 inhabitants)
Source: Eurostat (med_to22), (med_ps112), (tour_cap_nat) and (demo_pjan)
Table 2: Number of arrivals of non-residents staying in hotels and similar accommodation establishments, 2005–15
(thousands)
Source: Eurostat (med_to12) and (tour_occ_arnat)
Figure 3: Developments for arrivals of non-residents staying in hotels and similar accommodation establishments, 2005–15 (1)
(2005 = 100)
Source: Eurostat (med_to12)
Figure 4: Arrivals of non-residents in hotels and similar accommodation establishments relative to the number of bed places, 2005 and 2015 (1)
(arrivals of non-residents per bed place)
Source: Eurostat (med_to12), (med_to22), (tour_occ_arnat) and (tour_cap_nat)
Figure 5: Arrivals of non-residents in hotels and similar establishments relative to national population, 2005 and 2015 (1)
(arrivals of non-residents per 1 000 inhabitants)
Source: Eurostat (med_to12), (med_ps112), (tour_occ_arnat) and (demo_pjan)
Table 3: Number of trips taken by outbound tourists, 2005–15
(thousands)
Source: Eurostat (med_to11) and (tour_dem_tttot)
Figure 6: Developments for the number of trips taken by outbound tourists, 2005–15 (1)
(2005 = 100)
Source: Eurostat (med_to11) and (tour_dem_tttot)
Figure 7: Number of trips taken by outbound tourists relative to national population, 2005 and 2015 (1)
(average number of trips per 1 000 inhabitants)
Source: Eurostat (med_to11), (med_ps112), (tour_dem_tttot) and (demo_pjan)

Main statistical findings

There were over a million bed places in hotels and similar accommodation establishments across the ENP-South countries

The number of bed places available in hotels and similar accommodation establishments provides one measure of a country’s capacity to attract tourists; note that official tourism statistics include business travellers as tourists alongside individuals travelling for pleasure or other reasons.

The 10 ENP-South countries had a combined total of 1.2 million bed places (the latest information for seven of the countries relates to 2014 or 2015, while data for the others are older). By comparison, there were 13.7 million bed places in hotels and similar accommodation establishments in the EU-28 in 2014.

Among the ENP-South countries, Egypt, Tunisia (both 2014 data) and Morocco had the highest number of bed places in hotels and similar accommodation establishments, with 200–300 thousand each. In Israel, Algeria (2014 data) and Lebanon (2011 data) there were around 100 thousand bed places, while there were around 50 thousand bed places in Jordan and Syria (2007 data). The lowest levels of capacity were recorded for Libya (2010 data) and Palestine, with 29 thousand and 15 thousand bed places respectively (see Table 1).

The number of bed places grew in most ENP-South countries in recent years

Figure 1 provides information on the development of the number of bed places in hotels and similar accommodation establishments over the period 2005–15. The situation in Egypt was the least regular among the ENP-South countries, with an increase through to 2009, three successive years of reductions to 2012 and then a subsequent rebound to 2014. There was a small decline in bed capacity in the early years of this period in Israel, followed by an upswing between 2012 and 2015. By contrast, in Tunisia, capacity initially increased, but stabilised from 2009 onwards. In Algeria and Jordan there was a fairly regular, moderate upwards development, while in Morocco and Palestine there were also regular, but stronger increases, as their number of bed places almost doubled over the 10-year period under consideration; for comparison, the number of bed places in hotels and similar accommodation establishments in the EU-28 increased by 20 % during the period 2005–14.

Figure 2 presents another measure for analysing the number of bed places in hotels and similar establishments, providing this information in relation to the size of the national population. The EU-28 recorded a higher capacity of bed places than any of the ENP-South countries, with an average of 27 bed places in hotels and similar accommodation establishments per 1 000 inhabitants in 2014. Tunisia came closest to the EU-28 average, with 22 bed places in hotels and similar accommodation establishments per 1 000 inhabitants in 2014, reflecting the importance of tourism to the Tunisian economy; note that this value includes also bed places in specialised establishments and campsites. In Israel (2014 data), the capacity of bed places was a little over half the level in the EU-28, while in Jordan and Morocco (2015 data) it was about one quarter of the EU-28 level. Despite the increase in the number of bed places in the ENP-South countries in terms of absolute figures, in four countries (Israel, Tunisia and Jordan) the capacity of bed places available per 1 000 inhabitants decreased in the period 2005–15 (or nearest available year) because of faster population growth.

The number of non-resident arrivals in hotels and similar accommodation establishments in Egypt returned to growth in 2014

The largest number of arrivals of non-residents in hotels and similar accommodation establishments across the ENP-South countries (see Table 2 for data availability) was recorded by Egypt, with 7.4 million arrivals in 2014; while this was considerably less than the number of arrivals recorded in 2010 it was an increase compared with the previous year. In 2014, Tunisia recorded the second highest level of arrivals at 3.9 million, followed by Morocco (3.6 million, 2012 data) and Israel (2.7 million, 2015 data). These figures can be compared with a total of 273 million arrivals of non-residents at hotels and similar accommodation establishments in the EU-28 in 2014.

Figure 3 shows the development of the number of arrivals of non-residents staying in hotels and similar accommodation establishments during the period 2005–15. Apart from in Tunisia, there was an increase in the number of arrivals of non-residents in all of the ENP-South countries for which data are available. By far the strongest increase (in percentage terms) was recorded for Palestine, the number of arrivals increasing by a factor of six through to 2014 before dropping back in 2015. Although less spectacular, the increase in the number of non-resident arrivals in Algeria was also high, more than doubling, while in Israel there was an irregular development with overall growth between 2005 and 2010, followed by a gentle decline. Between 2005 and 2010 there was a more moderate growth in the number of arrivals in Morocco followed by a decline in 2011 bringing numbers back to the same level as in 2005, and a subsequent moderate increase in 2012. In Tunisia, the number of non-resident arrivals also increased moderately between 2005 and 2008 after which it fell most years, most notably in 2011 and 2013. Although a time series before 2009 is not available for Egypt, the information that is available highlights the impact of political turmoil in recent years: in 2010, the number of non-resident arrivals in Egypt was 12.9 million, but was half this level (6.4 million) by 2013, although in 2014 growth returned.

An alternative analysis is presented in Figure 4: it shows the number of non-resident arrivals in hotels and similar accommodation establishments per bed place. Caution is advised when interpreting these figures; they do not represent occupancy rates, as they do not take into account the length of the stay. Across the EU-28, this ratio averaged 20.0 arrivals of non-residents per bed place in 2015, a level exceeded by Palestine, Egypt (2014 data) and Israel, but slightly above the ratios in Morocco (2012 data) and Tunisia (2014 data). Algeria, reported a ratio that was substantially lower than in any of the other ENP-South countries, an average of 4.0 non-resident arrivals in hotels and similar accommodation establishments per bed place in 2014. This ratio increased during the period covered in Figure 4 in the EU-28 and each of the ENP-South countries with the exceptions of Morocco (2005–12) and Tunisia (2005–14).

Figure 5 shows the number of arrivals of non-residents in hotels and similar accommodation establishments relative to the number of inhabitants. In the EU-28 there were 538 arrivals of non-residents per 1 000 inhabitants in 2014, which marked an increase of 28 % when compared with the same ratio for 2005.

Among the ENP-South countries, the ratio of non-resident arrivals to population was systematically lower than in the EU-28. The highest values in 2015 were recorded for Tunisia (2014 data) and Israel, with 355 and 324 non-resident arrivals per 1 000 inhabitants respectively. The ratio of non-resident arrivals to the number of inhabitants was less than one quarter of the ratio in the EU-28 for the remaining ENP-South countries for which data are available. However, the number of non-resident arrivals relative to population increased in percentage terms at a much faster pace in Palestine (although there is a break in series) and Algeria than it did in the EU-28.

The number of outbound trips taken by tourists from Egypt was over 9 million in 2015

This final section details the outward flow of tourists travelling abroad. There were 280 million trips made by EU-28 tourists to destinations outside of their own Member State in 2014; note that EU-28 data for this particular indicator only refer to persons aged 15 and over.

Among the ENP-South countries for which data are available, the highest number of outbound trips taken by tourists was recorded for Egypt — the most populous of the ENP-South countries — at just over 9 million in 2015. There were just under 6 million outbound trips made by tourists from Israel the same year, ahead of Algeria and Lebanon (see Table 3).

Developments for the number of outbound tourist trips between 2005 and 2015 are shown in Figure 6. With the exceptions of Algeria and Israel there was an uneven expansion in the number of outbound tourist trips. Algeria recorded the strongest overall growth, with its number of outbound tourists more than doubling during these 10 years. Departures from Israel also grew quite steadily, growing in all but two years between 2005 and 2015 and expanding overall by 60 %. Among the ENP-South countries for which a relatively long time series is available, Lebanon was the only country that recorded a lower number of departures in the most recent year for which data are available when compared with the situation in 2005: the number of departures fell strongly between 2005 and 2006, before recovering to a peak in 2010, followed by a subsequent decline to 2012, ending in 2013 some 2 % below the 2005 level.

Figure 7 presents the number of outbound trips taken by tourists relative to the size of the population. In the EU-28 there were, on average, 552 trips per 1 000 inhabitants in 2014; note that the tourist trip figures relate to persons aged 15 and over and the ratio is calculated relative to the total population.

Israel recorded the highest ratio of outbound trips among the ENP-South countries, at 710 trips per 1 000 inhabitants in 2015, followed by Lebanon with 607 trips per 1 000 inhabitants in 2012. These were the only two ENP-South countries (for which data are available) to record ratios above the EU-28 average: in Jordan the ratio was about one third the EU-28 average, while in Egypt it was around one fifth of the EU-28 average and in Algeria about one sixth of the EU-28 average.

Data sources and availability

Tourism, in a statistical context, refers to the activity of visitors taking a trip to a destination outside their usual environment, for less than a year. It can be for any main purpose, including business, leisure or other personal reasons other than to be employed in the place visited. A tourist is a visitor that stays overnight (at least one night).

Within the EU, a system of tourism statistics was established through Council Directive 95/57/EC of 23 November 1995 on the collection of statistical information in the field of tourism. This legal basis requires EU Member States to provide a regular set of comparable tourism statistics. Following amendments in 2004 and 2006, the European Parliament and the Council of the European Union adopted Regulation (EU) No 692/2011 concerning European statistics on tourism in 2011 (repealing Council Directive 95/57/EC).

Tourism statistics in the EU consist of two main components: on the one hand, statistics relating to capacity and occupancy (supply side tourism statistics); on the other, statistics relating to tourism demand. In most EU Member States, the former are collected via surveys filled in by accommodation establishments, while the latter are mainly collected via traveller surveys at border crossings or through household surveys. Statistics on tourism demand refer to tourist participation, in other words, trips of at least one overnight stay during the reference period.

The data for ENP-South countries are supplied by and under the responsibility of the national statistical authorities of each country on a voluntary basis. The data that are presented in this article result from an annual data collection cycle that has been established by Eurostat. In 2015 and 2016, data were not collected from either Libya or Syria. These statistics are available free-of-charge on Eurostat’s website, together with a range of different indicators covering most socio-economic areas.

Tables in this article use the following notation:

Value in italics     data value is forecasted, provisional or estimated and is therefore likely to change;
: not available, confidential or unreliable value.
– not applicable.

Context

Tourism has the potential to contribute towards employment and economic growth, as well as to development in rural, peripheral or less-developed areas. Infrastructure created for tourism purposes contributes to local development, while jobs that are created or maintained can help counteract industrial or rural decline. Sustainable tourism involves the preservation and enhancement of cultural and natural heritage, ranging from the arts to local gastronomy or the preservation of biodiversity.

On 18 November 2015, the High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and the European Commission jointly presented a review of the European Neighbourhood Policy (SWD(2015) 500 final) which underlined a new approach for the EU in relation to its eastern and southern neighbours, based on stabilising the region in political, economic, and security-related terms.

In cooperation with its ENP partners, Eurostat has the responsibility ‘to promote and implement the use of European and internationally recognised standards and methodology for the production of statistics necessary for developing and monitoring policy achievements in all policy areas’. Eurostat undertakes the task of coordinating EU efforts to increase the statistical capacity of the ENP countries. Additional information on the policy context of the ENP is provided here.

See also

Further Eurostat information

Publications

Database

Tourism (med_to)
Main flows (med_to11)
Arrivals by type of accommodation (med_to12)
Nights spent by type of accommodation (med_to13)
Accommodation establishments (med_to21)
Number of bed-places (med_to22)
Monthly data on tourism industries (tour_indm)
Annual data on tourism industries (tour_inda)
Annual data on trips of EU residents (tour_dem)

Dedicated section

Methodology / Metadata

Source data for tables and figures (MS Excel)

External links

Notes

  1. ↑ This designation shall not be construed as recognition of a State of Palestine and is without prejudice to the individual positions of the Member States on this issue.


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