International Travel Survey ITS

1
International Travel Survey (ITS)

• Lotfi Chahdi
• Tourism Statistics Program
• Statistics Canada
• June 2008

2
International Travel Survey 2 components

• Frontier counts
• Monthly production cycle
• Questionnaire surveys
• Quarterly production cycle
• Mail-Back Questionnaires
• Air-Exit Survey of Overseas Visitors

3
Objectives

• Collect data for the international travel account
  (receipts, payments and balance)
• Collect data on international travellers and
  their trips
• Meet the requirements of the Canadian System of
  National Accounts

4
Users

• Statistics Canada (International travel account,
  Tourism satellite account, National tourism
  indicators)
• Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA)
• Canadian Tourism Commission
• Provincial and municipal tourism departments and
  agencies
• Tourism Industry Association of Canada (TIAC)
• United States Department of Commerce
• Tourism industry
• Researchers and associations
• International organizations (WTO, OECD, PATA)

5
The frontier counts Main forms used by CBSA

• E-62 Entry Tally
• PALS (Primary Automated Lookout System)
• E-63 Commercial and private craft/passenger and
  crew arrivals
• CANPASS telephone reporting system
• E-311 Custom Declaration Card

6
Vehicle traffic counts

• Census counts
• 128 land border crossings
• Number of autos, trucks, and other (motorcycles,
  bicycles, snowmobiles) are included
• Number of buses and trains are not counted

7
E62 Forms

• E62, E62T (commercial Trucks), E62B (Bus)
• US vehicles entering Canada
• Canadian vehicles returning to Canada
• Automobiles recorded by length of stay
• No length of stay for the trucks and motorcycles

8
E62 Forms (Contd.)

• Number of US travellers and Canadian travellers
  returning from US only by automobile, bus, train
  and foot
• Number of overseas travellers and Canadian
  travellers returning from overseas via the US by
  land
• Length of stay for US travellers and Canadian
  travellers returning from US only
• Length of stay for overseas travellers
• Crews for commercial trucks and trains

9
PALS (Primary Automated Lookout System)

• Electronic data
• By Type of vehicle A automobile M motorcycle
  and O Other
• Number of travellers within the vehicle by
  country of residency and length of stay

10
Capture area

• Operations and Integration Division (OID)
• Registration system
• Editing
• Capture
• Quality Control

11
Verification Procedures

• Reports Analysis
• Edits
• Imputation and Estimation
• Revisions

12
Data Correction and acceptance

• Correction Cycle
• Peel Production
• Acceptance

13
Changes currently underway

• Introduction of a new computer system, Integrated
  Primary Inspection Lane (IPIL) to replace PALS at
  large land ports

14
Estimates produced

• Number of vehicles travelling between Canada and
  the US
• Number of trips by Canadians returning from the
  US or overseas countries by port of entry, mode
  of transport and length of stay
• Number of trips by non residents to Canada by
  country of residence, port of entry, mode of
  transport and length of stay
• The statistics are produced monthly and released
  45 days after the end of the reference month

15
Data quality

• Frontier counts
• Estimates are very reliable (C.V. lower than 5)

16
ITS Publications and outputs

• Released in the Daily
• Canadian statistics
• CANSIM
• Annual publication No 66-201
• Monthly publication No 66-001P
• Microdata files
• Special requests

17
How to obtain more information

• Statistics Canada website
  www.statcan.ca
• Client services
• phone [phone]
• phone [phone]
• tourism_at_statcan.ca
• fax [phone]

18
Questions

• Thank you