Web Eustat.Survey on tourist establishments (EETR). Methodological Note

Methodological Note: Survey on tourist establishments (EETR)

EETR. Methodological Note

SURVEY ON TOURIST ESTABLISHMENTS (EETR) OF THE AUTONOMOUS COMMUNITY OF THE BASQUE COUNTRY

The Survey on Tourist Establishments (EETR) of the A.C. of the Basque Country (CAE) is a monthly business cycle indicator, that aims to measure the evolution of the number of visitors and overnight stays recorded by the hotel establishments of the CAE.

It is a censal survey that includes all tourist establishments of the CAE, even though they are not all processed in the same way. The establishments are stratified according to three criteria:

Type: Hotel establishment, rural tourism establishment and camping sites (last category not currently collected)
Category: Group 1, which includes 3, 4 and 5 star establishments, and Group 2, which includes 1 and 2 start hotels and guesthouses.
Geographical: The hotel sub-group is divided into provinces and a distinction is made between the provincial capital and the rest of the province, and between inland and costal areas (in Bizkaia and Gipuzkoa). Only the division by provinces is used in the rural tourism sub-group.

All the units are of the same type from the pointing of view of the method currently used. In other words, the calculations are performed using the information from one week a month from each establishment. However, a change has been introduced from the point of view of the sample. There have been three types of units since 2008:

Censal units in the stratum and censal in time: 3, 4 and 5 star hotels. Information collected every 31 days.
Censal units in the stratum and survey units in time: 1 and 2 star hotels and 2 star guesthouses. Sample information collected weekly. Rural tourism establishments also included here.
Censal units in the stratum and survey units in time: 1 star guesthouses. All the existing units are in the directory and they are updated using the directory of the Tourism Department, along with the other establishments. There is a random selection of these units in the stratum in the sample. Sample information collected weekly.

In 2009, the proposed goal is to publish the results of applying these new sampling units. The end target is to achieve a better breakdown of tourist information in terms of geography and time.

Two surveys are used to collect the information:

Monthly: This includes the figures regarding travellers every day of the month and which is currently only sent to 3, 4 and 5 start hotel establishments.
Weekly: The sample sent to the remaining establishments and they are assigned the benchmark week for each month using a random process.

With respect to this section, it should be noted that a new method is being used in addition to the traditional collection method (mail, telephone fax). The new method is adapted to the new technologies and allows information referring to every day of the month to be automatically collected after an ad-hoc programme, based on XML files, is installed in the management software of the reporting units.

The data obtained are published in line with the aforementioned stratification and collect the number of hotel establishments in the CAE and the available beds, together with the movements recorded, according to the origin of the visitors.

Another important indicators are also extracted, such as the degree of occupancy per hotel room and/or bed, the average stay and the number of people employed in the sector.

Eustat has been performing this statistical operation since 1992, which allows researchers and users in general to have a time series to carry out their analysis.