Attendees: James Gillan (NISRA) - Chairperson, Patricia Wyers (NISRA), Joanne Henderson (NISRA), Sarah McAuley (NISRA), Patrick O’Kane (NISRA), David Marshall (NISRA), Claire O’Neill (NISRA), Paul Rutherford (DETI), Olivia Mulhern (Tourism Ireland), Paul J Crowley (CSO), Mairead Griffin (CSO), Patsy King (CSO), Bernie Morris (Failte Ireland), Bernard O’Shea (DTTAS), Pamela Wilson (NITB), Anne-Marie Montgomery (NITB)
Apologies: Lorraine Fleming (DETI), Ray O’Leary (DTTAS), Caeman Wall (Failte Ireland), Ian Stanley (NISRA), Kevin Sweeney (NISRA), Peter Nash (Tourism Ireland), Eamonn McKeon (ITIC)
Chairperson welcomed attendees to the meeting.
NISRA provided 2 presentations on the latest tourism results and recent/future developments.
• NITB asked if it was possible to get day trip figures at a local level
Action – TSB will investigate but indicated that figures might be based on a three year rolling average due to small cell sizes.
• NITB indicated that occasional papers on specific topics would be useful particularly in response to areas raised in Assembly Questions. NISRA indicated that it would welcome feedback from users on topical issues which would be of interest to them.
• CSO requested an amendment to table 8 in the NISRA annual publication to clarify that HTS sample size of 400 refers to the number of NI trips but the actual sample size of the Household Travel Survey is much larger, in order to prevent any misinterpretation.
Action – TSB agreed to amend the reference to HTS sample in the table.
• CSO requested information on the NISRA methodology used to estimate confidence intervals around HTS figures.
Action – To be covered at the next technical group meeting
NISRA provided background information on the ‘experimental’ status of tourism statistics, indicating that work to develop tourism statistics is ongoing through a UK Statistics Authority supported Quality Improvement Fund (QIF). This will help to inform plans to review the “experimental” status of tourism statistics and NISRA expects to publish such plans by the end of October 2014.
• NITB asked about the implications for cross border statistics. NISRA indicated that the outcome of the QIF would help to inform a way forward on this aspect of the statistics.
• Day trip figures in comparison with England, Scotland and Wales were discussed including question wording. It was agreed that it is best to adhere to standard definitions. TSB are due to meet with DRD statisticians working on the Travel Survey to share information and lessons learnt. TSB will also investigate the use of the Visitor Attraction Survey as a comparator to day trips results.
• CSO indicated that day trip information is not currently collected for ROI and it is not currently possible to collect such information. The EU Regulation on Tourism Statistics requires information on data on domestic same day visits in respect of the reference year 2018. It was suggested by NISRA and NITB that this information would be extremely useful in the future.
Action - It was agreed that this issue could be discussed further at the technical group meeting.
• CSO indicated that their aim is to improve the detail and frequency of published data. While acknowledging the need for greater detail, CSO indicated that the current methodology would not facilitate this. It is hoped the move to CAPI and the associated revised methodology will, subject to sample size, provide for a greater breakdown of information. NISRA stated that the QIF bid will be used to evaluate whether or not it is appropriate for them to use the PCI data on visits to NI for their publication.
• NISRA highlighted the importance of including expenditure data in Northern Ireland in the PCI in the future. CSO are aware that NISRA are keen to have expenditure information included in PCI and this will be investigated. Along with the move to more detailed information , it is hoped that the ultimate inclusion of questions on spend and reason for visit data of overseas visitors entering the Republic visiting Northern Ireland will be of major improvements in any PCI development from a NI perspective.
• Attendees agreed that the meeting provided an excellent opportunity for user needs to be incorporated into the proposed PCI changes at an early stage in the process.
• Failte Ireland was keen to know whether NISRA would publish their figures without the HTS data if there was a delay in the release of these CSO figures. NISRA indicated that users’ views in response to the 2013 user consultation were that both timeliness and completeness were important aspects of the statistics. Although the current target for release is 16 weeks from the end of the time period (i.e. T+16), it had been agreed that if RoI figures were not available within 3 weeks of the publication date (i.e. T+19) the NI figures would be published without the RoI element, clearly indicating that the publication is incomplete and contained NI sourced data only.
Action – NISRA and CSO agreed to liaise on publication dates. Where possible, CSO will provide NISRA with the required data in advance of publication to progress preparation. NISRA agreed not to publish such data before CSO figures are publicly released.
• NITB asked if NI domestic figures could be published separately as they are available before the other data. It was concluded that as this would only be around 2 weeks earlier, it would be more appropriate to wait and release the full picture to avoid any possible confusion, as outlined in the 2013 consultation on tourism statistics.
DTTAS provided an update on current work including areport on competitiveness and innovation in the tourism sector and the establishment of a forum to examine potential improvements to statistical data on Tourism within the Republic of Ireland. It is anticipated that the production of satellite accounts will be helped by the methodological improvements made by CSO and the move to CAPI. The matter of where responsibility for the production of such satellite accounts is an issue for further consideration.
Action - It was agreed that Failte Ireland, CSO and NISRA, would share information on the publications they produce to share best practice (e.g. infographics), ensure consistency where relevant and to highlight any potential gaps.
• TSB asked CSO if data on RoI residents visits to NI are weighted in the same was as RoI domestic data. CSO indicated that although visits to NI would not use an air or sea port, they were classed as outbound (from RoI) with the same additional calibration that is applied to other outbound trips. The impact of the additional calibration is, however, not significant.
Action – To be further discussed at the technical group
• CSO re-iterated that they would be grateful for any feedback on the move to CAPI
Action – Attendees to provide any feedback to CSO by September
