TECHNICAL NOTES 
Philippine Tourism Satellite Accounts

I. Introduction

The Tourism Satellite Account (TSA) is a standard statistical framework and the main tool for the economic measurement of tourism. It was developed by the UN Tourism, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), the Statistical Office of the European Communities (Eurostat), and the United Nations Statistics Division. The Tourism Satellite Account: Recommended Methodological Framework 2008 (TSA: RMF 2008) provides the updated common conceptual framework for constructing a TSA. It adopts the basic system of the System of National Accounts 2008 (SNA 2008), the international standard for a systematic summary of national economic activity from a functional perspective². The TSA provides information on the macroeconomic aggregates describing the size and contribution of tourism to the economy. This also provides detailed data on expenditure of visitors, detailed production accounts of tourism industries, and employment in tourism industries.

The earliest effort on the development of TSA in the Philippines was in 1988. The National Statistical Coordination Board (NSCB) and Department of Tourism (DOT) conducted a research study on the contribution of tourism to the Philippine economy. In 1997, the Interagency Committee on the Development of a Satellite Account on Tourism (IAC-DSAT) was created.  Two years later, the NSCB created its Development Satellite Accounts Team (DSAT) which produced initial PTSA estimates covering the period 1994 to 1998. In 2003, the IAC-DSAT was reconstituted to form the Interagency Committee on Tourism Statistics (IAC-TS), expanding the function of the committee to cover other tourism-related data in support of the Philippine Tourism Satellite Accounts (PTSA). The Philippine Tourism Statistical Classification System (PTSCS) was approved and adopted in 2005.  Four years later, a resolution on the official methodology for the compilation of the PTSA was approved.  In 2011, the NSCB released the official annual estimate of PTSA covering the period from 2000 to 2010.  Five years later, the latest PTSCS was approved. This classification system is in line with the 2009 Philippine Standard Industrial Classification (PSIC), and is the classification being currently employed by the PTSA.

In June 2020, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) released the revised PTSA series, which spans the period 2000 to 2018.  This is consistent with the overall revision and rebasing (ORR) of the Philippine System of National Accounts (PSNA), with 2018 serving as base year.  The sources of revision are discussed in Section III. In addition to the revised series of PTSA, the PSA also released two new and additional indicators covering the period 2012 to 2019.  These indicators are namely: (1) tourism gross fixed capital formation; and (2) tourism collective consumption, which are part of the prescribed indicators elaborated in the TSA:RMF 2008.

Sources:

(1) United Nations and World Tourism Organization. (2010). International Recommendations for Tourism Statistics 2008. New York: United Nations

(2) United Nations, Commission of the European Communities–Eurostat, World Tourism Organization, and Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. (2010). Tourism Satellite Accounts: Recommended Methodological Framework. New York: United Nations

²(OECD, “Tourism Satellite Account: Recommended Methodological Framework, https://www.oecd.org/cfe/tourism/tourismsatelliteaccountrecommendedmetho...)

II. Data and Data Sources

The TSA is compiled and presented in tables and accounts (see Section III.2). The data used in the compilation of PTSA are taken from several sources.

           Demand Side

              Supply Side and Other Aggregates

III. Methodology

III.A. Estimation Methodology

Table 1: Inbound Tourism Expenditure

Total inbound tourism is the sum of product of:

• total inbound visitor arrivals (n)
• average length of stay (l)
• average daily expenditures for each of the expenditure items (e)

where: 
i refers to the expenditure items, namely: 
1. accommodation services for visitors 
2. food and beverage serving services 
3. transport services 
4. travel agencies and other reservation services 
5. entertainment and recreation 
6. country specific tourism characteristic goods (shopping) 
7. miscellaneous

Table 2: Domestic Tourism Expenditure

Total domestic tourism expenditure is the sum of the product of:

• total annual domestic visitor trips (n)
• average length of stay (l)
• average daily expenditures for each of the expenditure items (e)

where: 
i refers to the expenditure items, namely: 
1. accommodation services for visitors 
2. food and beverage serving services 
3. transport services 
4. travel agencies and other reservation services 
5. entertainment and recreation 
6. country specific tourism characteristic goods (shopping) 
7. miscellaneous

Table 3 Outbound Tourism Expenditure

Total expenditure of Filipinos abroad is estimated as the sum of the product of:

• total outbound visitors (n)
• average length of stay (l)
• average daily expenditures for each of the expenditure items (e)

where: 
i refers to the expenditure items, namely: 
1. accommodation services for visitors 
2. food and beverage serving services 
3. transport services 
4. travel agencies and other reservation services 
5. entertainment and recreation 
6. country specific tourism characteristic goods (shopping) 
7. miscellaneous

Table 4 Internal Tourism Expenditure

Internal tourism expenditure is the sum of inbound (Table 1) and domestic tourism expenditure (Table 2)

Table 5 Production accounts of tourism & non-tourism industries (Gross Value Added of Tourism Industries (GVATI))

Table 5 presents the production accounts of tourism industries and other industries in the economy of reference.

Table 6: Total domestic supply and internal tourism consumption (Tourism Direct Gross Value Added (TDGVA))

Table 6 is an extension of Table 5. It presents an overall reconciliation of internal consumption (Table 4) and domestic supply (Table 5).

Table 7 Employment in Tourism Industries

Table 7 gives the number of persons employed in each of the identified tourism-characteristic industry.

Table 8: Tourism Gross Fixed Capital Formation

Tourism Gross Fixed Capital Formation is the sum of the net acquisition of tourism-specific capital goods by industries.

Table 9: Tourism Collective Consumption

Tourism Collective Consumption is the sum of the consumption of tourism related collective non-market services. The list of products is based on the Central Product Classification.

III.B. PTSA Tables and Accounts

III.3. Sources of Revision

The 2019 and 2020 revision of the PTSA came from several sources. Sources of revision on the values in Tables 1 to 9 are specified below.

a.) Table 1. Inbound Tourism Expenditure

b.) Table 2. Domestic Tourism Expenditure

c.) Table 3. Outbound Tourism Expenditure

d.) Table 4. Internal Tourism Expenditure

• Revision was due to the revised Table 1.

e.) Table 5. GVATI and Table 6. TDGVA

f.) Table 8. Tourism Gross Fixed Capital Formation

g.) Table 9. Tourism Collective Consumption

IV. Concepts and Definition of Terms

Tourism satellite account can be viewed from two perspectives, the demand side and supply side. The demand side refers to the demand for goods and services associated with tourism, whereas the supply side refers to the supply of these goods and services.

Demand Perspective

a. Travel/traveler - Travel refers to the activity of travelers.  A traveler is someone who moves between different geographic locations for any purpose and any duration (IRTS 2008, para. 2.4).

Travel within a country by residents is called domestic travel.  Travel to a country by non-residents is called inbound travel, whereas travel outside a country by residents is called outbound travel (IRTS 2008, para. 2.5).

b. Trip refers to the travel by a person from the time of departure from his usual residence until he/she returns: it thus refers to a round trip. A trip is made up of visits to different places (IRTS 2008, para. 2.33).

c. Inbound trip will correspond to the travel between arriving in a country and leaving, whereas a domestic trip or an outbound trip will correspond to the travel between leaving the place of residence and returning. A domestic trip has a main destination in the country of residence of the traveler, while an outbound trip has a main destination outside this country (IRTS 2008, para. 2.31)

d. Visitor is a traveler taking a trip to a main destination outside his/her usual environment, for less than a year, for any main purpose (business, leisure or other personal purpose) other than to be employed by a resident entity in the country or place visited. These trips taken by visitors qualify as tourism trips. Tourism refers to the activity of visitors (IRTS 2008, para. 2.9).

e. Usual environment of an individual, a key concept in tourism, is defined as the geographical area (though not necessarily a contiguous one) within which an individual conducts his/her regular life routines (IRTS 2008, para 2.21). The purpose of introducing the concept of usual environment is to exclude from visitors those travelers commuting regularly between their place of usual residence and place of work or study, or frequently visiting places within their current life routine, for instance homes of friends and relatives, shopping centers, religious, health-care or any other facilities that might be at a substantial distance away or in a different area but are regularly and frequently visited (IRTS 2008, para. 2.23).

f. Tourism is a subset of travel and visitors are a subset of travelers. These distinctions are crucial for the compilation of data on flows of travelers and visitors and for the credibility of tourism statistics (IRTS 2008, para. 2.12).

g. Visitor (domestic, inbound or outbound) is classified as a tourist (or overnight visitor) if his/her trip includes an overnight stay, or as a same-day visitor (or excursionist) otherwise (IRTS 2008, para. 2.13).

Forms of Tourism

a. Domestic tourism, which comprises the activities of a resident visitor within the country of reference either as part of a domestic tourism trip or part of an outbound tourism trip (IRTS 2008, para. 2.39a);

b. Inbound tourism, which comprises the activities of a non-resident visitor within the country of reference on an inbound tourism trip (IRTS 2008, para. 2.39b); and

c. Outbound tourism, which comprises the activities of a resident visitor outside the country of reference, either as part of an outbound tourism trip or as part of a domestic tourism trip (IRTS 2008, para. 2.39c).

Tourism expenditure is the amount paid for the acquisition of consumption goods and services as well as valuables, for own use or to give away, for and during tourism trips. It includes expenditures by visitors themselves as well as expenses that are paid for or reimbursed by others (IRTS 2008, para. 2.21)

Tourism consumption has the same formal definition as tourism expenditure. Nevertheless, the concept of tourism consumption used in the TSA goes beyond that of tourism expenditure. Actually, besides “the amount paid for the acquisition of consumption goods and services, as well as valuables for own use or to give away, for and during tourism trips” that corresponds to monetary transactions (the focus of tourism expenditure), it also includes services associated with vacation accommodation on own account, tourism social transfers in kind and other imputed consumption. (IRTS 2008, para. 2.25)

Supply Perspective

a. Tourism characteristic goods and services refer to products that are typical for tourism, which in the absence of visitors, in most countries would probably cease to exist in meaningful quantity or for which the level of consumption would be significantly reduced and for which it seems possible to obtain statistical information (IRTS 2008, para. 5.10).

b. Tourism connected goods and services include those that have been identified as tourism specific in a given country but for which this attribute has not been acknowledged on a worldwide basis.

c. Tourism characteristic activities are the activities that typically produce tourism characteristic products (IRTS 2008, para. 5.11).

Variables Characterizing the Tourism Industries

a. Gross Value Added of Tourism Industries (GVATI) is the sum of total gross value added of all establishments belonging to tourism industries, regardless of whether all their output is provided to visitors and the degree of specialization of their production process. 
 

b. Tourism Direct Gross Value Added (TDGVA) refers to the part of gross value added generated by tourism industries and other industries of the economy that directly serve visitors in response to internal consumption. It also includes the part of gross value added associated with the output of other (non-tourism) industries as long as this output responds to tourism consumption. 
 

c. Tourism Employment refers to the employment in tourism industries that may be measured as a count of the persons employed in tourism industries in any of their jobs, as a count of the persons employed in tourism industries in their main job, or as a count of the jobs in tourism industries (IRTS 2008 para. 7.9.)

V. Dissemination of Results and Revision

The schedule of release of PTSA is six (6) months after the reference period. A press release, publication, statistical tables, and infographic are posted on the PSA website.

VI. Citation

Philippine Statistics Authority. (2024). Technical Notes on Philippine Tourism Satellite Account. https://psa.gov.ph/statistics/tourism/technical-notes

VII. Contact Information

Mr. Gerald Junne L. Clariño 
Chief Statistical Specialist 
Satellite Accounts Division
g.clarino@psa.gov.ph

For data request, you may contact: 
Knowledge Management and Communications Division 
(632) 8462-6600 locals 820 and 823
info@psa.gov.ph