Background Notes

Periodicity

Annual/Quarterly.

Scope

Domestic and Outbound travel patterns which involve overnight stays of all residents of the Republic of Ireland.

Coverage

All private households.

Purpose

The purpose of the Household Travel Survey (HTS) is to measure domestic and outbound travel patterns involving overnight stays and associated details (expenditure, purpose of trip, type of accommodation used etc.) of Irish residents.  The survey is one of several Central Statistics Office (CSO) tourism surveys conducted to comply with the requirements of Council Directive 95/57/EC of 23 November 1995 concerning the collection of statistical information in the field of tourism for data to the end of 2011 and 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 in respect of data from the beginning of 2012.

Data Collection

Information is collected via postal survey of private households on a monthly basis by the Central Statistics Office.

Sample Design

The HTS is a random stratified sample. Each month, over 4,600 households (or approximately 0.3% of all private households) are randomly selected from the Electoral Register, where the selection is stratified by District Electoral Division.

The sample was chosen using the 2015 Electoral Register as the sampling frame for Q1 and 2 2018. From Quarter 3 2018 onwards the sample is taken from the 2018 Electoral Register.

The sample size for some subcategories/breakdowns can be small and therefore caution should be taken when analysing this data. 

Methodological Change

Review of 2018 data

The Quarter 2 2018 Household Travel Survey publication was suspended in October 2018 due to concerns the CSO had about the quality of the data collected in the survey. The Quarter 3 and 4 2018 publications were subsequently also deferred while the CSO conducted an in-depth examination of the statistical issues affecting the results.

The statistical quality issues of concern were a falling response rate to the survey and, in tandem with this, a substantial increase in the percentage incidence of trips taken in the respondent sample. The CSO considered the values observed across the survey’s key indicators (i.e. domestic and outbound trips, nights and expenditure) to be implausible when compared to those of previous years; and considered that there was a strong possibility of statistical bias in the survey data. 

In response the CSO undertook a comprehensive investigation of the current statistical processes in the HTS, reviewing the sampling, collection, processing, and estimation methodology and the survey data. The purpose of the review was to identify anything that could be having a biasing impact on the survey results and consider what options were available to address the issues in the data. 

Following the outcome of this review (outlined in more detail in the report linked below) the CSO has decided to apply a statistical adjustment to the 2018 HTS data to address a response bias in the proportion of people responding to the survey who had taken an overnight trip.

The HTS data published for 2018 is to be considered interim and may be subject to future revision. Further information is included in the Methodology Note on Review of Household Travel Survey 2018, published by the CSO at: Methodology Note on Review of Household Travel Survey 2018

Domestic Travel

From Quarter 1 2012 onwards, survey data for domestic travel is weighted to agree with population estimates broken down by sex, age group and region (NUTS 3). The population estimates are provided by the CSO's Demography Unit. These weightings are then applied to survey results.

Outbound Travel

From Quarter 1 2012 onwards, survey data for outbound travel are weighted to agree with population estimates broken down by sex, age group and region (NUTS 3). The population estimates are provided by the CSO's Demography Unit. These weightings are then applied to survey results. The results for outbound travel are subsequently further weighted to agree with the Tourism & Travel results.

Revisions to data (2012 - 2015)

There have been revisions to domestic and outbound travel data from Quarter 1 2012 onwards as a result of the change to the weighting methodology. Revised data are published in Quarter 1 2016 release. A summary of the effect of these revisions is shown in the enclosed table.

Break in series

Arising from these changes, discontinuities in all of the series relating to outbound and domestic travel have occurred. Therefore, these results are not directly comparable with the results prior to Quarter 1 2012.

It should be noted that there are some differences between the Household Travel Survey and Tourism and Travel Survey:

• The HTS includes travel to Northern Ireland while the Tourism and Travel Survey (TTS) only includes overseas travel (it excludes travel to Northern Ireland).
• The HTS only includes travel where there is at least one overnight stay while the Tourism and Travel Survey (TTS) covers both same-day trips and overnight trips.

Definitions

Tourism

Means the activity of visitors taking a trip to a main destination outside their usual environment, for less than a year, for any main purpose, including business, leisure or other personal purpose, other than to be employed  by a resident entity in the place visited.

Usual Environment

The usual environment of an individual is defined as the geographical area (though not necessarily a contiguous one) within which an individual conducts his/her regular life routines.  Places that are frequently visited are part of a person’s usual environment even though they may be located at a considerable distance (or in another country) from the place of residence.

For the purposes of this release, trips taken on a weekly or more frequent basis are considered to be within a respondent’s usual environment and are thus excluded from estimates for tourism trips.  The one exception being that of holiday homes which although may be frequently visited, are considered outside the usual environment according to the UNWTO 2008 International Recommendations on Tourism Statistics (IRTS).

Trip

A trip refers to the travel by a person from the time of departure from his/her usual residence until he/she returns: it thus refers to a round trip.  A trip is made up of visits to different places.

Domestic Tourism

Domestic tourism is defined as the activities of residents of the Republic of Ireland travelling to and staying in places only within the Republic of Ireland but outside their usual environment.

The following categories are excluded from the definition of domestic travel:

• Residents travelling within the country with the intention of changing their usual residence.
• Persons who travel to work temporarily in institutions within the country.
• Persons who travel regularly or frequently between neighbouring localities to work or study.
• Nomads and persons without fixed residence.
• Armed forces on manoeuvre.

Outbound Tourism

Outbound tourism is defined as the activities of residents of the Republic of Ireland travelling to and staying in places outside the Republic of Ireland and outside their usual environment.  From 2012 onwards expenditure on outbound travel includes travel on car imports. Car imports were over €300 million in 2018.

The following categories are excluded from outbound travel:

• Persons leaving the country as migrants, including dependants accompanying or joining them.
• Persons, known as border workers, residing near the border in the Republic of Ireland but working in the North of Ireland.
• Diplomats, consular officers and members of the armed forces when travelling outside of the Republic of Ireland on assignment.  This includes dependants and household employees accompanying or joining them.
• Persons travelling as refugees or nomads.

Overnight Visitor

An overnight visitor is a visitor who stays at least one night in collective or private accommodation in the place, county or country visited.

Tourism Expenditure (to the end of 2011)

Total consumption expenditure is any expenditure made by a visitor or on behalf of a visitor during their trip and stay at their destination.

Tourism expenditure includes purchases of consumer goods and services inherent in travel and stay (eg. travel to, from and at destination, accommodation costs, food and drink, excursions), purchases of durable goods for personal use, souvenirs and gifts for family and friends.

The following outlays or acquisitions are excluded:

• Purchases for commercial purposes, for resale, purchases made on behalf of an employer during a business trip.
• Capital type investments or transactions engaged in by visitors, such as land, housing or real estate, works of art and other important acquisitions (such as cars, caravans, boats, second houses), even though they may be used in the future for tourism travel purposes.
• Cash given to relatives or friends during the trip, which does not represent payment of tourism goods or services, as well as donations made to institutions.

Tourism Expenditure (from 2012 onwards)

Total consumption expenditure is any expenditure made by a visitor or on behalf of a visitor during their trip and stay at their destination.

Tourism expenditure includes purchases of consumer goods and services inherent in travel and stay (eg. travel to, from and at destination, accommodation costs, food and drink, excursions), purchases of durable goods for personal use, souvenirs and gifts for family and friends.

Expenditure on valuables such as paintings, works of art, jewellery and on durable consumer goods such as cars, boats, mobile homes and caravans are also included.

The following outlays or acquisitions are excluded:

• Purchases for commercial purposes, for resale, purchases made on behalf of an employer during a business trip.
• Investments or transactions engaged in by visitors, such as land, housing or real estate.
• Cash given to relatives or friends during the trip, which does not represent payment of tourism goods or services, as well as donations made to institutions.

Rounding

Individual figures have been rounded independently and the sum of the component items therefore may not necessarily add to the totals shown.

NUTS Regions

The regional classifications used for Domestic Travel are based on the NUTS (Nomenclature of Territorial Units) classification used by Eurostat.  Until Q4 2017, the NUTS 3 regions corresponded to the eight Regional Authorities established under the Local Government Act, 1991 and Regional Authorities Establishment Order, 1993, which came into operation on 1 January 1994.  The NUTS 2 regions, which were proposed by Government and agreed by Eurostat in 1999, were groupings of the NUTS 3 regions.  The composition of the regions is set out below.

However, changes made under the 2014 Local Government Act prompted a revision to the Irish NUTS 2 and NUTS 3 Regions. These changes included:

• The amalgamation of the local authorities of Tipperary North and South, Limerick City and County Councils, Waterford City and County Councils.

• The establishment of three Regional Assemblies (Northern & Western, Southern, Eastern & Midland).

• At NUTS 3 level, South Tipperary was transferred from the South-East into the Mid-West NUTS 3 Region and County Louth was moved from the Border to the Mid-East NUTS 3 region.

• The establishment of three NUTS 2 Regions which correspond to the three Regional Assemblies and are groupings of the new NUTS 3 Regions.

The revisions made to the NUTS boundaries have been given legal status under Commission Regulation (EU) 2016/2066 and have come into force from Q1 2018. The new NUTS 2 and NUTS 3 structure are displayed in the table below.

The Household Travel Survey results by region can be found on the CSO Statbank. The figures for Q1 2018 are available at NUTS 2 level under the new NUTS regions structure. Data prior to Q1 2018 are available using the older NUTS regions.

 List of Regions and Countries - Outbound Travel

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