Domestic Tourism Statistics: A Comparative Analysis of Demand Data Coverage and Method

Domestic tourism is the mainstay of tourism demand for many destinations. However, it does not receive as much attention as international tourism does in either academic or governmental research. There is no global database on domestic tourism statistics and no global view of overall volume and value trend statistics based on integrated measurements that include both domestic and international tourism travel. To begin to address this lacuna, this article assesses the domestic tourism demand data coverage and methods in 20 selected countries. Through exploratory comparative analyses and based on the findings, the study develops a list of critical success indicators to be used as inputs to a data-driven strategy for domestic tourism. This list includes 17 indicators grouped into three categories (basic data, indices, and market intelligence data). Furthermore, the study proposes methodological aspects to be considered when measuring domestic tourism: data source, the operational definition of usual environment, sampling techniques, and data collection methods. These proposed aspects offer potential guidelines to countries that plan to conduct new domestic tourism surveys or to improve current survey methodologies.