Tourism Satellite Account (TSA) Project

Apart from being a new and especially relevant statistical instrument to analyse the economic importance of tourism, the development of a Tourism Satellite Account (TSA) is considered a strategic project for WTO. The document The Tourism Satellite Account (TSA): A strategic project for the World Tourism Organization summarizes the components of this strategy.

Within the TSA development process, it is essential to develop the System of Tourism Statistics (STS), in which National Tourism Administrations (NTAs) must play a key role. The document General guidelines for National Tourism Administrations (NTAs) relative to the development of the Tourism Satellite Account (TSA) outlines the fundamental characteristics proposed by the WTO for this system.

The Basic References on Tourism Statistics, in English, French and Spanish covers the main elements that make up the System of Tourism Statistics (STS), including the Tourism Satellite Account as the unifying framework of most of its components. This is a product that includes an update of basic concepts, definitions and classifications, as well as indicators and accounting aggregates related with tourism as an economic activity.

The WTO has prepared two documents explaining the content of the TSA:

• Basic Concepts of the TSA, which is meant to explain to a wide audience what the TSA is.

• An introductory course to the TSA, called TSA in depth: Analysing tourism as an economic activity. It draws on all the experience accumulated in the eight Regional Seminars that have been held to date, and makes use of the support materials developed for them. This course is aimed at both producers and users of tourism statistics, as well as researchers and university department members.

As indicated in its official document, the TSA is the unifying framework of most of the components of the System of Tourism Statistics (STS). In view of this, the WTO has developed initiatives related to the TSA project designed by the World Tourism Organization.