Statistics Explained

Archive:Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) - a statistical portrait - tourism

Data from July 2014. Most recent data: Further Eurostat information, Main tables and Database.

This article is part of a set of statistical articles based on Eurostat’s publication Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) — A statistical portrait.

Figure 1: Arrivals of non-resident tourists at national borders, 2012
(million) - Source: the World Tourism Organisation (World Tourism Data)
Figure 2: Arrivals of tourists from selected Asian ASEM partners at hotels and similar establishments in the EU-28, 2012 (1)
(% of arrivals) - Source: Eurostat (tour_occ_arnraw)
Table 1: Top European ASEM partners as destinations for tourist arrivals from selected Asian ASEM partners, 2012 (1) - Source: Eurostat (tour_occ_arnraw)
Figure 3: Number of tourism trips from EU-28 Member States to selected Asian ASEM partners, 2012 (1)
(1 000) - Source: Eurostat (tour_dem_ttw)
Figure 4: Visitor or tourist arrivals from selected EU Member States in selected Asian ASEM partners, 2013 (1)
(Thousands) - Source: Eurostat (tour_dem_ttw), Japan National Tourist Organization, China National Tourism Administration, Government of India (Ministry of tourism) and Tourism Australia

This article focuses on tourism data about the European Union (EU), Norway and Switzerland in comparison with 20 Asian ASEM partners. It covers key indicators concerning the number of tourist arrivals, top destinations and the origin of tourists and visitors.

The use of the term European ASEM partners in this article refers to the 28 Member States of the EU, Norway and Switzerland. The use of the term Asian ASEM partners in this article refers to the 10 members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and the 10 remaining ASEM partners referred to as Northeast and South Asia (NESA).

Main statistical findings

Tourist arrivals

Tourists include people travelling for all reasons, including pleasure, business or visiting family. According to the World Tourism Organisation (WTO) there were around 1 087 million international tourist arrivals worldwide in 2013, among which 436 million were in the European ASEM partners (of which 423 million in the EU-28) and 207 million in the Asian ASEM partners. As such, the ASEM partners were the destination for close to three fifths of all of the world’s international tourists. Among the European ASEM partners the five largest EU Member States in terms of population received in 2012 the largest number of international tourists, followed by Austria (see Figure 1). China and the Russian Federation received the most international tourists among NESA partners, while Malaysia and Thailand were the biggest international destinations among ASEAN members.

Tourist arrivals in Europe

Figure 2 looks at the share of tourists from a selection of Asian ASEM partners among all of the tourists staying at hotels and similar establishments in the EU-28 in 2012. Collectively, 25 million tourists from the five selected partners stayed in such accommodation, a 3.8 % share of the 661 million tourists from all countries of the world. Among these, the largest number, some 10 million tourists, were from the only Asian ASEM partner with a land border to the EU, namely the Russian Federation. The number of tourists from China (including Hong Kong) has grown rapidly in recent years and by 2012 these numbered 5.0 million, quite close to the 5.4 million arrivals from Japan.

Table 1 looks in more detail at the destination of tourist arrivals at hotels and similar accommodation in European ASEM partners, focusing on Switzerland and the nine EU Member States with the highest number of arrivals: these nine Member States collectively hosted close to 90 % of the tourist arrivals from the five selected Asian ASEM partners.

Although Germany and France boasted a greater number of tourist arrivals in hotels and similar establishments overall, Italy was the leading destination for such tourists from the five selected Asian ASEM partners. None of the five partners dominated, although the shares of arrivals in Italy from Japan and China were above the average for the EU-28 as a whole, while the share from the Russian Federation was notably lower. Among these five ASEM partners, the share of tourists from the Russian Federation was particularly high in neighbouring Finland, as well as in Greece and the Czech Republic. The share from China was highest in Switzerland, accounting for nearly half of the total number of arrivals in hotels and similar establishments from these five ASEM partners, a share that was surpassed by Australian tourists to the United Kingdom.

Tourist arrivals in the Asian ASEM partners

Figures 3 and 4 look at outbound tourism from the EU-28 towards a selection of Asian ASEM partners. Figure 3 is based on the number of tourism trips in 2012 rather than the number of tourist arrivals, and so counts each tourist only once even if multiple destinations are visited; it is also limited to persons aged 15 and over. Using the same five Asian ASEM partners, by far the two leading destinations for trips from the EU-28 were to the Russian Federation and China, which together hosted more than three quarters of the trips made to these five ASEM partners from the EU-28. Japan’s share was relatively small in comparison with its share of tourist arrivals in the EU-28.

The four parts of Figure 4 are based on national data for the arrivals of tourists or visitors from selected EU Member States. Visitors include same-day visitors as well as tourists (the latter staying at least one night); however, for EU-28 tourists in Asian ASEM partners the distinction between tourists and visitors is likely to be small. For three of the four destinations shown, the largest group of tourists from the EU-28 Member States came from the United Kingdom, the exception being China where there were more tourists from Germany. For all four destinations most tourists came from the four largest EU Member States, generally followed by the Netherlands, Sweden and Spain, with the notable exception of Australia where tourists from Ireland were the fifth largest group.

Data sources and availability

The indicators presented are often compiled according to international — sometimes global — standards. Although most data are based on international concepts and definitions there may be certain discrepancies in the methods used to compile the data.

Almost all of the indicators presented for the EU (and its Member States), Norway and Switzerland have been drawn from Eurobase, Eurostat’s online database, while global tourism data come from the WTO.

For the Asian ASEM partners and their aggregates (ASEAN and NESA), the data presented have been extracted from the WTO and from a range of national sources.

For many of the indicators multiple international statistical sources are available, each with their own policies and practices concerning data management (for example, concerning data validation, the correction of errors, the estimation of missing data, and the frequency of updating). In general, attempts have been made to use only one source for each indicator in order to provide a comparable analysis between the partners.

Aggregates for ASEM, the European ASEM partners and the Asian ASEM partners have been compiled from the data for individual partners as indicated above. As such, they may combine data from Eurostat and international sources.

Context

The ASEM partners include many major tourist destinations, with eight of the partners among the world’s top 10 international destinations in 2012, according to data from the United Nations WTO, alongside the United States and Turkey. Tourism has the potential to contribute towards employment and economic growth, especially in rural, peripheral or less-developed areas.

See also

Further Eurostat information

Publications

Database

Annual data on tourism industries (tour_inda)
Occupancy of tourist accommodation establishments (tour_occ)
Arrivals of residents and non-residents (tour_occ_a)
Arrivals at tourist accommodation establishments by country/world region of residence of the tourist (tour_occ_arnraw)
Annual data on trips of EU residents (tour_dem)
Number of tourism trips (tour_dem_tt)
Number of trips by country / world region of destination (tour_dem_ttw)

Dedicated section

Source data for tables, figures and maps (MS Excel)

External links


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