Tourism survey

The purpose of the statistical activity is to collect information on the travel of Estonian residents and to obtain objective tourism statistics that are comparable between European countries, which will help to increase the potential of the tourism sector in the future. In order to plan actions to strengthen the country's competitiveness and to evaluate the situation of the tourism sector, adequate statistics on trips, tourists, travel expenditure, and economic benefits of tourism are needed.

Overnight domestic and outbound trips of Estonian residents by main purpose of trip, organisation of trip, primary destination, and duration of trip;

number of nights of Estonian residents spent on domestic and outbound trips by type of accommodation;

expenditure on overnight domestic and outbound trips of Estonian residents by main purpose of trip

Classification of Occupations 2008;

Classification of Estonian administrative units and settlements (EHAK);

Classification of Individual Consumption According to Purpose (COICOP);

Classification of countries and territories;

National Standard Classification of Education 2011

Not applicable

Business trip – a conference, a seminar or a meeting; an educational and study trip; a visit to an exhibition or fair; performing at a concert. Generally a business trip is paid for by the employer or organisation.

Accommodation in camping grounds, recreational vehicle parks and trailer parks – a short-term accommodation in camping grounds, trailer parks, hunting and fishing camps, health camps and other such recreational camps; provision of space and parking facilities for recreational vehicles; shelters, protective shelters or plain bivouac facilities for placing tents and/or sleeping bags

Day trip – domestic or outbound trip without overnight stay

Free accommodation – free private accommodation, including staying at the homes of family members, relatives, or acquaintances, or overnight stays at one's own apartment or house that has been acquired for the purpose of spending holidays, incl. in a residence acquired for personal or company timeshares, etc.

Holiday trip – a personal trip for leisure or recreation purposes, including, for example, a relaxing trip, a trip to engage in a hobby, art or sports, a trip for cultural and entertainment events

Hotel and similar establishment – a hotel, motel, guest house. Accommodation establishments belonging to this category offer daily room cleaning and bed-making, and the accommodation establishment can offer a variety of additional services (catering, parking and laundry service, opportunity to use the swimming pool, gym, conference rooms, recreation rooms, etc.).

Other paid accommodation – accommodation in a campsite, cottage, holiday home, hostel, bed and breakfast, yacht harbour, etc. Additional services are limited.

Other personal trip – visiting a sanatorium or other health-related trip, religious trip, pilgrimage, etc. Other personal trips include study trips, if they are not related to work.

Tourism – the movement of people outside their usual environment for leisure, work, cultural or other purposes and their stay there for up to one year. Trips related to working abroad for more than one year and working as part of the crew of an international means of transport (e.g. cruise ship workers, long-distance drivers) are not considered tourism.

Overnight domestic trip (internal tourism) – trips with overnight stays by permanent residents within their country of residence

Expenditure on an overnight domestic trip – expenses per domestic trip. This includes expenditure on transport for the domestic trip, expenditure on accommodation, on food and drink in cafés and restaurants, and other expenditure (entertainment, purchases, services, incl. durable goods and valuables).

Overnight outbound trip (international tourism) – trips with overnight stays outside the country of residence by permanent residents of a country

Expenditure on an overnight outbound trip – expenses per outbound trip. This includes expenditure on transport for the outbound trip, expenditure on accommodation, on food and drink in cafés and restaurants, and other expenditure (entertainment, purchases, services, incl. durable goods and valuables).

Trip – business trips (meetings, conferences, seminars, further training, etc.), irregular visits to relatives and friends (birthdays, weddings, funerals, graduations, other family celebrations; communal work, etc.), attending cultural events (concerts, theatre performances, sports competitions, etc.), holiday trip (to the beach, skiing, water park, etc.), shopping trip; visiting a summer cottage, country house, parents or children, if this occurs less than once a week during the reference period

Usual environment – the term has two dimensions: geographical proximity and frequency of visits. Places close to the usual place of residence are part of the usual environment, even if they are visited infrequently. Places visited habitually and frequently (on average once a week or more) are part of the usual environment, even if they are located quite far from the usual place of residence (even in another country). Irregular weekend and holiday trips to the household's second home (owned or rented) are included under tourism.

Visiting a friend or relative – participating in family gatherings (a funeral, wedding, helping in work, etc.)

For collecting data on participation in tourism, the statistical unit is the individual;

for collecting data on tourism trips and day trips, the statistical unit is the trip made by the individual.

The population includes permanent residents of Estonia aged 15 years and over who live in private households. Persons living in institutions are excluded from the survey in order to improve the comparability of Estonian and Eurostat data. Persons living in institutions include, for example, those in prisons, hospitals, conscript service, etc.

Estonia as a whole

2006–…

Not applicable

Official Statistics Act;

Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2019/1681 of 1 August 2019 amending Regulation (EU) No 692/2011 of the European Parliament and of the Council concerning European statistics on tourism, as regards the transmission deadlines and adaptation of Annexes I and II (Text with EEA relevance);

Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) No 253/2013 of 15 January 2013 amending Annex II to Regulation (EU) No 692/2011 of the European Parliament and of the Council, as regards adaptations following the revision of the International Standard Classification of Education ISCED in relation to the variables and breakdowns to be submitted (Text with EEA relevance);

Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) No 1051/2011 of 20 October implementing Regulation (EU) No 692/2011 of the European Parliament and of the Council concerning European statistics on tourism, as regards the structure of the quality reports and the transmission of the data (Text with EEA relevance);

Regulation (EU) No 692/2011 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 6 July 2011 concerning European statistics on tourism and repealing Council Directive 95/57/EC (Text with EEA relevance);

Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2021/1179 of 16 July 2021 amending Implementing Regulation (EU) No 1051/2011 as regards the aggregate tables and micro-data files for the transmission of the data (Text with EEA relevance);

Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) No 81/2013 of 29 January 2013 amending Implementing Regulation (EU) No 1051/2011 as regards the micro-data files for the transmission of data (Text with EEA relevance).

With each publication, the data files requested by Eesti Pank (Bank of Estonia) are forwarded to them no later than the last day of the month in which the quarterly data are published.

The news release “Travel of Estonian residents” is published once a year. The news items can be viewed on Statistics Estonia's website in the section News.

Not published

Data are published in the statistical database under the subject area Economy /Tourism, accommodation and catering / Travelling of Estonian residents.

Quarterly data tables:

TU51: Overnight domestic and outbound trips of residents by main purpose of trip (quarterly),

TU54: Overnight domestic and outbound trips of residents by duration of trip (quarterly),

TU551: Nights spent during domestic and outbound trips of residents by type of accommodation (quarterly),

TU56: Expenditure on an overnight domestic trip of residents by main purpose of trip (quarterly),

TU63: Overnight outbound trips of residents by country of destination (quarterly),

TU661: Expenditure on an overnight outbound trip of residents by main purpose of trip (quarterly).


Annual data tables:

TU510: Overnight domestic and outbound trips of residents by main purpose of trip,

TU530: Overnight domestic trips of residents by primary destination,

TU540: Overnight domestic and outbound trips of residents by duration of trip,

TU550: Nights spent during domestic and outbound trips of residents by type of accommodation,

TU560: Expenditure on an overnight domestic trip of residents by main purpose of trip,

TU630: Overnight outbound trips of residents by country of destination,

TU660: Expenditure on an overnight outbound trip of residents by main purpose of trip.

For datasets published as part of this statistical activity but now discontinued, see "Length of comparable time series".

Data tables related to the survey were viewed 2,172 times in 2024, 1,552 times in 2023, 1,525 times in 2022, 1,594 times in 2021, and 2,726 times in 2020.
Each table view is counted as a separate viewing. This is based on the database URLs, which show that the data have been selected and the table formed. Only active data tables, i.e. those being published, have been taken into account.

The dissemination of data collected for the purpose of producing official statistics is guided by the requirements provided for in § 33, § 34, § 35, § 36, § 38 of the Official Statistics Act.
Access to microdata and anonymisation of microdata are regulated by Statistics Estonia’s procedure for dissemination of confidential data for scientific purposes.

The survey microdata are transmitted to Eurostat once a year via the data transmission program EDAMIS.

Tourism statistics are also available on the following websites:

dedicated section on tourism, accommodation and food service,

dashboard on tourism,

Eurostat tourism page,

EU tourism page,

OECD database, and

UN Tourism data dashboard.

Data serve as input for statistical activity 50101 “Regional development”.

The data are submitted to Eesti Pank on a quarterly basis in accordance with the agreement.

The collection and transmission of data to Eurostat is governed by Regulation (EU) No 692/2011 of the European Parliament and of the Council. The survey data in aggregated form are transmitted to Eurostat once a year. Microdata are transmitted to Eurostat once a year via the data transmission program EDAMIS. The due date for data transmission is 30 June, i.e. three months after their publication in Statistics Estonia's database. Microdata from the survey are kept in the data servers at Statistics Estonia and are not publicly available. The results of the survey are published only as aggregated data. Aggregated data are transmitted to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and UN Tourism upon request.

The metadata related to the statistical activity were viewed 123 times (1 January 2024 – 31 December 2024). This figure does not represent the number of viewers, as the metadata may have been viewed multiple times by a single user.

Eurostat’s methodological manual: Methodological manual for tourism statistics.

The Tourism survey follows this manual as far as possible. The methodology is also described in the legal acts (see "Legal acts and other agreements") and compliance with those is mandatory.

This statistical activity is guided by the European Statistics Code of Practice (revised edition 2017).

The quality and metadata report submitted to Eurostat.

The Tourism survey sample is drawn up based on the population statistical register, while contact details are obtained from the Population Register.

The individuals in the frame are divided into three strata:
- five larger counties + the capital (Tallinn, Harju county, Ida-Viru county, Lääne-Viru county, Pärnu county, Tartu county);
- small counties (Jõgeva county, Järva county, Lääne county, Põlva county, Rapla county, Saare county, Valga county, Viljandi county, Võru county);
- Hiiu county.

The population includes persons aged 15 and older. The sample includes 10,000 persons per year and 2,500 persons per quarter. The sampling method is stratified simple random sampling by region of place of residence.

The data on a person’s highest level of education completed according to ISCED 2011 (International Standard Classification of Education) are received from Statistics Estonia’s population base, which contains education data from several national registers.

Since 2016, the survey has been conducted every month. Questions concerning overnight outbound trips refer to trips completed in the previous two months, and questions concerning overnight domestic trips refer to trips completed in the previous month.

Questions concerning day trips (without overnight stay) also refer to the previous month.

Before the survey starts, a notification is sent to all the people in the sample, explaining the purpose of the survey and how they will be contacted. The notification is sent to the sample person at the email address indicated in the Population Register. If no email address is available, a letter is sent by post to the address in the Population Register.

In 2014, data in this survey were collected through a telephone interview (CATI). Since 2015, data are collected through a phone interview (CATI) and computer-assisted personal interview (CAPI).
Since 2019, data have also been collected via an online questionnaire (CAWI). Since 2021, the questionnaire can be completed by telephone (CATI) and online (CAWI).

In this survey, data are collected via
- an online questionnaire in the first week of each month,
- a telephone interview (for best service, the survey interview call is recorded) starting from the second week of the month. Since 2022, data are also collected via a telephone interview during the first week of the month from respondents whose email address is unknown.

The Survey Fieldwork Information System (VVIS) is used to manage and monitor data collection. The questionnaires have been designed for independent completion in a web environment and include instructions and checks. The questionnaires and information about data submission are available on Statistics Estonia's website in the section Questionnaires. The data are collected with the monthly official statistical questionnaire “Tourism survey”. The 2024 questionnaire is available here

The survey can be completed in either Estonian or Russian.

The questionnaire includes both hard and soft checks.
Hard check – a situation where the data are illogical or mandatory information is missing and the errors must definitely be corrected. The respondent cannot proceed in the questionnaire before doing so.
Soft check – a situation where the error is more of a warning. Such errors need to be reviewed.

If respondents have any questions when filling in the questionnaire, they can contact customer support. For this reason, customer support and the data collection team receive training before the survey begins, during which the content of the survey is discussed and the questionnaire is reviewed together.

Input data are checked and, if necessary, revised in accordance with the rules laid down. The calculated statistics are checked for compliance with quality requirements: data are compared with those of previous periods, the internal coherence, population coverage and response rate are checked.

In the case of missing or unreliable data, estimate imputation based on established regulations will be used. In the Tourism survey, expenditure on trips, disposable income of household and the respondent's level of education are imputed. Regression imputation is mainly used. The hot-deck method is used to impute disposable income of household.

In the tourism survey, individual weights and trip weights are calculated, which are used to obtain estimates for the population. Individual weights are calculated in three stages:
- calculation of design weights, which indicate how many members of the population each individual in the sample represents;
- compensation for loss, which divides the design weight by the response probability;
- calibration, which adjusts the loss-compensated weights so that the sum of the weights reflects the actual numbers in the population in terms of sex and age distribution.

Individual weight is used to calculate trip weight. The number of trips and whether they were personal or work-related must be taken into account.

Variables which were not collected but which are necessary for producing the output are calculated or obtained from registers. New variables are calculated by applying arithmetic conversion to already existing variables. This may be done repeatedly, the derived variable may, in turn, be based on previously derived new variables.

Microdata are aggregated to the level necessary for analysis. This includes aggregating the data according to the classification, and calculating various statistical measures, e.g. average, median, dispersion, etc.

The collected data are converted into statistical output. This includes calculating additional indicators.

Imputation rates in 2023:
income – 36%;
total expenditure – 5%;
F24 expenditure on transport – 17%;
F25 expenditure on accommodation – 30%;
F26 expenditure on food and drinks – 20%;
F27 other expenditure – 14%;
F28 expenditure on durables and valuable goods – 27%.

The imputation rate of expenditure on durables varies greatly from year to year due to the low number of values and it can be quite high due to the questionnaire. Expenditure on durables is part of the sum of other expenditure and it is asked only if the sum of other expenditure exceeds €300. In many cases respondents do not know the amount spent on durables or the specification of durables seems to be difficult.

Not applied

Not applied