new methodology

Following an extensive review of tourism data, the United Kingdom Tourism Monitor (UKTS) has moved to a new methodology for measuring the volume and value of domestic overnight trips: face-to-face interviews. This requires an increased investment in the provision of domestic data that VisitBritain, VisitScotland, Wales Tourist Board and Northern Ireland Tourist Board have committed to from May 2005.

The New Methodology
TNS were appointed to run the survey from May 2005 and for 2006 - 2010. The Boards concluded the approach proposed by TNS would yield a more representative sample of the UK population by using a proven face-to-face interview approach instead of the previous random digit dialing telephone approach.

There will now be:

- 103,000 face-to-face interviews per annum, more than twice the number of the previous survey methodology;

- A weekly sample size of around 2,000 adults aged 16 or over - representative of the UK population in relation to various demographic characteristics including gender, age group, socio-economic group, and geographical location.

The questions were added to TNS's RSGB Omnibus on 4th May 2005 and the survey outputs will provide data from May 2005 for total number of trips, nights spent, breakdown of expenditure, purpose of trip, accommodation used and party composition on each trip by destination.

Overseas Tourism

Prestwick was included in the International Passenger Survey as an interview point for the first time in 2005 and this would have contributed to the substantial increase in overseas tourism in Scotland however this increase would have occurred over several years and not as a one year increase as seen in the 2005 statistics.

Paul Buchanan
Corporate Research Manager
VisitScotland