Survey on Foreign Tourists in Slovenia

Alenka Škafar Božič

Marta Arnež

SURVEY ON FOREIGN TOURISTS IN SLOVENIA

IN THE 2000 SUMMER SEASON

Ljubljana, May 2001

0.Surveys on tourism statistics

In the field of tourism statistics, the Statistical Office of the Republic of Slovenia (SORS) implements 7 surveys, these being:

-survey on monthly accommodation statistics,

-quarterly survey on tourism travel of domestic population,

-quarterly survey on the number of visitors at some points of interest to tourists (museums, galleries, natural phenomena), at swimming pools and in casinos,

-annual survey on the activities of Slovenian travel agencies (number of one-day or more days travels and number of travellers making these travels),

-annual survey on the number of boats and persons harboured in three Slovenian marinas,

-survey on foreign travellers in Slovenia (with 3-year periodicity),

-survey on foreign tourists in Slovenia (with 3-year periodicity).

In the European Union, tourism statistics is regulated by the Council Directive 95/57/EC on the collection of statistical information in the field of tourism. Slovenia as a candidate country already has its tourism statistical surveys rather in line with the requirements of the above mentioned Directive.

Also the surveys that are not the subject to the Directive follow the recommendations of the World Tourism Organisation (WTO).

In this paper we will present the 2000 survey on foreign tourists in more detail.

1.The survey on foreign tourists in the 2000 summer season

1.1. General information on the 2000 survey

Every three years the Statistical Office of the Republic of Slovenia carries out the survey on foreign tourists coming to Slovenia during the summer season. The summer season is defined to last between 1st June and 30th September. The last survey on foreign tourists was conducted in the year 2000.

Knowing the profile of foreign tourists is important for a country as Slovenia. The resident population is very keen on travelling abroad because Slovenia is a small country and it is very easy to get to know it via same-day trips. According to the 2000 accommodation statistics, the ratio between domestic and foreign tourists arrivals in tourist accommodations is 44 to 56. So the inbound tourism is a very important part of tourism flow in Slovenia.

The unit of observation in our survey is a foreign tourist who, either alone or with other persons, travels and stays in Slovenia. In accordance with the WTO definition, a foreign tourist is a person with a permanent residence outside the Republic of Slovenia, who due to tourist reasons spends at least one night in a place in Slovenia.

Foreign tourists were interviewed in tourist resorts. Tourism statistics divides tourist resorts into five groups: Ljubljana (the capital), health, seaside, mountain and other tourist resorts. We carried out the survey in Ljubljana, in health, seaside and mountain resorts.

In selected resorts we carried out the survey in selected hotels and camping sites. Thus we covered 87% of overnight stays of all foreign tourists in Slovenia in the summer season.

1.2. The survey questionnaire

We obtained the data via personal interview with the paper questionnaire. The questionnaire was divided to 4 parts:

1. characteristics of tourist's profile: nationality according to passport, age, economic activity status, occupation, travelling alone or in a group, type of settlement where the tourist/s live;
2. characteristics of tourist's travel and staying: the main reason for arrival, type of transport, type of arrangements for meals, duration of staying and separately characteristics of staying of holiday-makers: most important activities during the stay, organisation of holidays, when the decision to come to Slovenia was made, sources of information, the use of internet, number of previous holidays in Slovenia;
3. expenses of travel and staying: transport costs, price of package holidays, expenses during the stay in Slovenia, mode of paying: cash, credit cards;
4. evaluation of stay and tourist offer in Slovenia.

Questions in parts A, B and D referred only to the selected tourist. When studying the collected data on consumption (part C), we monitored the total consumption of a selected tourist and his/her family or company, i.e. persons travelling with him/her and spending and settling the accounts with him/her. The central question about expenditure of foreign tourists was the question about expenditure in the place of the interview. We decided to ask the tourists about their consumption the day before the interview - i.e. yesterday's consumption. Thus we were able to ask them more in detail what they spent their money on. In previous years we asked tourists about their consumption during the whole stay in Slovenia. Many did not want to respond or could not recall their expenses during the last week or even longer period. Some tourists simply could not answer the question, especially when the interviewer set this question to them at the very beginning of their stay in the place of the interview. Taking into account the examined questionnaires, we find that in the 2000 survey more tourists gave their responses to the questions about expenditure than was the case in previous surveys.

The eliminating question was also the first question in B part, this was the question on the main reason for coming to Slovenia. The possible answers were: a) holidays, leisure; b) business and educational reasons; c) visiting friends and relatives, d) other reasons, e) transit. Only holidaymakers were asked more in detail to give the characteristics of the organisation of holidays and stay in Slovenia.

The questionnaire covered four pages. It was translated into eight languages (Italian, German, Croatian, Hungarian, French, English, Dutch and Czech). It took about 6 minutes for a holidaymaker to answer all the questions.

1.3. Sampling design

The basis for this survey was an expertly selected sample, which covered accommodation establishments where the interviewing took place.

The basis for the sampling frame were data from the monthly survey on tourists and their overnight stays between June and September 1999. For every tourist accommodation in Slovenia the data on the number of domestic and foreign tourists by nationality are collected as well as data on the number of overnight stays of tourists. For the sampling frame of this survey we took into consideration only foreign tourists in above-mentioned tourist resorts. Thus the starting frame covered 156 accommodation establishments (i.e. 76% tourist arrivals and 87% overnight stays). From the sampling frame were eliminated accommodation establishments in those tourist resorts where less than 800 overnight stays of foreign tourists were recorded, unless the tourist resort is considered part of larger tourist area. Therefore the sampling frame was reduced to 144 accommodation establishments (i.e. 76% tourist arrivals and 87% overnight stays).

The sample was a two-stage stratified sample. Strata were defined by:

-the type of resort,

-the type of accommodation establishment,

-the month of interviewing.

There were 32 strata designed. Primary sampling units were tourist accommodation establishments, while secondary sampling units were groups of five tourists. The sample size was 3,500 foreign tourists or 700 primary sampling units. The accommodation establishments were selected by PPS, i.e. probability proportional to size. The size of the tourist accommodation establishment was defined by the number of tourists. Thus 102 tourist accommodations were selected in the sample.

The probability of selection of tourists was:

with

number of tourists in the accommodation i in the stratum h between June and September 1999,

number of selections of the accommodation iin the stratum h.

If the number of tourists in accommodation establishments in 2000 were the same as in 1999, we would get a balanced sample of foreign tourists and as the result a balanced sample of their overnight stays.

In case of secondary units (groups of five tourists), their days of interview were randomly assigned, as the interviewers were instructed to divide the five tourists over the whole day.

1.4. Fieldwork

After the accommodation establishments were selected, in May we sent a letter addressed to the management. We turned to them with two wishes: in the first place for co-operation in the survey in general and secondly if they could find a person from their staff who would be prepared to make interviews with the tourists (for a remuneration - of course). Half of asked accommodation establishments answered favourably very soon. The other half was more troublesome. Six of them absolutely refused to co-operate in the survey. Some could not determine such a person from their staff and we solved the problem with the external collaborators. Some of them just needed time to answer and then co-operated in the survey.

We started with the fieldwork on 1st June 2000.

The interviewers were mostly employees in the accommodation establishments. Since the statistical office does not have a permanent interviewing staff we established that it is more convenient (and cheaper) for this survey to train the accommodation personnel to interview the foreign tourists: they know their guests, their habits and they speak foreign languages. The interviewer's task was to ask the tourists to participate and to explain the purpose and course of interviewing. After each interview, the interviewer had to check the questionnaire and recalculate eventual data on expenses from a foreign currency to Slovenian tolars.

The so-called instructors - employees of the Statistical office - took care for the contacts between interviewers and the Statistical Office. Their task was to well acquaint the interviewers with the methodological principles of the survey, the method of surveying and eventual mistakes. Later on, the instructors monitored interviewers' work, visited them at least once a month and collected the fulfilled questionnaires. They had to check the questionnaires and correct the possible mistakes.

Each interviewer obtained the data by personally interviewing tourists. The tourists could also answer the questionnaire themselves, but then the interviewer was supposed to check the questionnaire together with the tourist. Tourists who participated in the survey received a small token as an expression of thanks.

1.5. Weighting

After the fieldwork had finished, weights were calculated on the basis of the results of regular monthly accommodation survey for the survey period. This was done in more steps:

-weighting due to unequal probability of selection of foreign tourists,

-weighting due to non-response of tourists in the establishments,

-correction of allocation due to rounding in selecting the establishment,

-correction of the distribution of tourists according to the season (high and off-season) and according to their citizenship.

1.6. Non-response

We can roughly describe two types of non-response:

1. non-response of the level one unit, i.e. when the management of the tourist establishment refused to participate and

2. non-response of tourists in the establishment where interviewing took place.

Of 102 tourist accommodation establishments selected for the survey, one was closed because of rebuilding and six refused to participate. In this way we lost 290 (8.3%) interviews. The lowest completion rate at the first level was recorded in hotels in seaside resorts (80.7%), where five establishments did not want to participate.

From the remaining 3,210 questionnaires we received 2,923 answers, which makes a 91.1% completion rate. If we take into account non-response of establishments, the total completion rate is 84.0%.

We treated separately those questionnaires where the answers on expenditure were not filled in. This is partial non-response. The share of such incomplete questionnaires is 9.2%.

1.7. Publication of results

Six months after the fieldwork had been concluded, the results were available and published. It was not before November 2000 that the results from the monthly accommodation survey were available, so we actually managed to work on calculation of weights, tabulation of results and publication for only four months.

We prepared a publication with extensive comments not only on results of the current survey but also containing comparisons with the previous two surveys. To enable further analyses, we also published detailed tables.

The results in tables are mostly presented in relative numbers. The numbers - estimations were published according to the coefficient of variation (relative standard error of estimation) with or without limitations. That means that the estimates published without limitations are entirely reliable and that those with limitations - written in parentheses - are less reliable due to small number of units of observation.

The criteria by the coefficients of variation (relative standard error of estimation) for publishing estimates from the Survey on Foreign Tourists in the 2000 Summer Season were:

• estimates with the coefficient of variation less than 0.10 (CV<0.10) are

published without limitations;

• estimates with the coefficient of variation between 0.10 and 0.15 (0.10<CV<0.15) are published in single parentheses;
• estimates with the coefficient of variation between 0.15 and 0.30 (0.15<CV<0.30) are published in double parentheses;
• estimates with accuracy less than 0.30 (CV>0.30) are not published and each one is substituted by a dot.

2. Some results of the 2000 survey

2.1.Tourists who arrived to Slovenia

Slovenia is a small county of 20 000 km2. It neighbours to Italy, Austria, Hungary and Croatia. According to survey results, 55.4% of foreign tourists came to Slovenia from two neighbouring countries (Italy and Austria) and from Germany. However, their share has been constantly decreasing compared to 1994 and 1997 surveys. At that time the shares were 60% and 58% respectively. In 2000, more tourists came from various countries.

Table 1: Share of foreign tourists by countries, 1994, 1997 and 2000 %

Almost a half of tourists were middle-aged, i.e. between 30 and 50 years old. The shares of young and old tourists increased only slightly, when compared to the previous two surveys. Even 45% of tourists travelled in pairs and only 17% of them visited Slovenia with a family.

More than two thirds of tourists were employed or self-employed. This share is almost exactly the same as in 1997. The share of retired persons was 21% and increased. By origin (countries), the share of retired tourists was the biggest in case of tourists from Austria (40%) and Germany (27%).

Chart 1: Foreign tourists by age groups, 1994, 1997and 2000

Tourists who answered that they were employed, self-employed or retired were asked about their occupation. We used the same groups of occupations as in the International Standard Classification of Occupations.

Chart 2: Foreign tourists by economic activity status, 1994, 1997 and 2000

2.2. Tourists - their reason for coming to Slovenia, their sources of information prior to travel, means of transport

Almost two thirds of tourists stated that the main reason for coming to Slovenia were holidays. This time was added the reason "visiting relatives and friends", which in the previous two surveys was not stated separately. Even 64.2% of tourists came to Slovenia on holidays. If we add the option: visiting relatives and friends, we get 68.4%, which is 4 percentage points less than in 1997. The share of tourists who came due to business and educational reasons increased by 3 percentage points. The share of tourists in transit also increased. By types of tourist resorts, Ljubljana of course stands out, with more than 40% of tourists visiting our capital due to business and educational reasons and only a quarter staying in Ljubljana for holidays.

Chart 3: Tourists by main reason for coming to Slovenia, 1997 and 2000

Tourists spending holidays in Slovenia were asked about their motives for coming to Slovenia. The results show that tourists were drawn to Slovenia mostly by its natural beauties. Then followed the reasons of calmness and possibilities to rest, and climate.

Over a third of holidaymakers came to Slovenia with the assistance of travel agencies. The agencies could organise only accommodation, only transport or the tourists bought the package holidays. Even 33% of holidaymakers who used the services of travel agencies used them only for organising accommodation and 64% of them bought package holidays. By countries, the share of holidaymakers whose holidays were organised by travel agencies is far the biggest at UK tourists (81%). Most of them bought package holidays. The smallest share of "agency tourists" was registered among tourists from the neighbouring countries.

In deciding to spend holidays in Slovenia, the most important were personal experiences. The second most frequent source of information were recommendations from relatives or friends.

Table 2: Structure of foreign holidaymakers by source of information on the possibility to spend holidays in Slovenia, 1994, 1997 and 2000 %

More than 42% of holidaymakers were spending their holidays in Slovenia for the first time, this share is health resorts 22% but in all others over 40%.

We also asked the holidaymakers if they used the internet to assist them in organising the holidays in Slovenia. Less than 20% answered affirmatively. We asked them if they had used the internet to book accommodation, to get information on Slovenia or both. Over three fourths of them only used the internet to get information on Slovenia and more than 20% booked accommodation via the internet.

Almost 80% of tourists arrived in Slovenia by road transport means, 70% of those came by car. And 19% of tourists arrived by aeroplane. Compared to 1994 and 1997, the share of tourists coming by plane increased considerably, while the share of tourists coming by bus slightly decreased.