The Central Statistics Office has decided to suspend the publication of the 2019 Household Travel Survey (HTS) due to ongoing data quality issues in the survey returns. Unfortunately, some of the issues described in the methodological note that accompanied the 2018 HTS interim results (published in June 2019) have not been resolved.  

In an effort to address the data quality issues in the Household Travel Survey, from January 2020 the CSO will introduce a new sampling methodology for the survey, based on a new list of occupied private households. This new sampling frame will replace the current process where quarterly samples are drawn from the electoral register.

The new sampling frame will be a more up-to-date and complete list of private households and will provide more options for analysing and managing any non-response or sample bias issues encountered in collecting the data.

It is expected that the publication of data from the HTS, starting with results for Q1 2020, will resume in 2020.

The new sampling frame and associated systems are currently being tested in parallel with the existing survey. The data from this parallel test will be analysed with the intention of providing continuity across the HTS time series.

In 2020 the CSO will also explore options to replace the current Household Travel Survey postal survey methodology using electronic data collection methods.

The CSO apologises for the inconvenience that this causes to users of tourism statistics.

Please contact information@cso.ie for further details.