Report: The World Tourism Organization's Efforts in the Development of a Tourism Satellite Account

A tourism satellite account (TSA) is a synthetic statistical operation closely linked to the central core of a country's national accounts, placing an emphasis on tourism activity. It isolates the various items making up economic tourism activity from the universe of national accounts in order to: specify the impact and describe the direct and indirect effects of tourism on the economy; quantify the overall impact of tourism; analyse the relationships between tourism and the rest of the economy; and make it possible to use major qualitative parameters in analysing tourism activity – place of residence, sex, income, duration of stay, etc. This report outlines the efforts of the World Tourism Organization (WTO) to develop a flexible and sustainable framework for the national and international implementation of TSAs.