Regional Tourism Satellite Account (RTSA) in Finland - Data, Concepts, Methods and Key Results

The aim of this paper is to describe how the Tourism Satellite Account (TSA) is made for Finnish regions. However, the aim of this project is to analyse the regional effects and regional economic structures of tourism in Finland. The TSA is a statistical system which depicts the financial importance and economic effects of tourism in an extensive and versatile manner. It is based on the European System of Accounts ESA 1995 and internationally given standards and norms of the TSA. Therefore, it is comparable between different countries. In Finland, the Tourism Satellite Account was first introduced in 1999. Since then, there have been two updates; the latest was published in December 2004. The TSA was partially regionalised for the first time in May 2005 basing on data from 2002. The aim of this project is to fully regionalise the TSA at the NUTS 3 level. Among other aggregates, the TSA provides information on visitor consumption, tourism supply and demand and employment. To be precise, the consumption of visitors is estimated by product and type of tourism. Supply and demand tables of tourism are balanced and divided to the products. Employment and total hours worked are reported by industry. The research results enable an analysis of one region at a time or comparisons between regions simultaneously. The tables and accounts are based on several source materials, mostly produced by Statistics Finland. The data include National and Regional Accounts, Tourism Statistics, Finnish Travel Survey and statistics on Finnish Enterprises, as well as numerous other sources. There will also be a survey made of the tourism industry. Increasing economic impacts of tourism have been recognised for a number of years. The results of this research can be used in both planning and development at the regional level. Furthermore, it is possible to conduct further studies into the economic effects of tourism in Finnish regions.