Contents
2. Tourism: accommodation establishments
3. Tourism: arrivals of tourists
5. Traders registered with INPS
7. Enterprises registered in the Business Register (ATECO section G)
Data on distributive trade outlets are provided by the Ministry of Economic Development, through its National Observatory on Trade.
There are two types of information in the Observatory:
Distributive trade activities comprise the following three categories (divisions of the NACE or ATECO classifications):
Retail trade activities can take place through large-scale distribution outlets (specialised and non-specialised) or through specialised retailing (stores, stalls and markets, or not in store retailing).
Large-scale distribution outlets can be grouped into the following broad categories:
Retail trade not in stores and not via stalls and markets comprises:
The classification of economic activities ATECO 2007 and revision of the system
As mentioned above, the statistical information contained in the Observatory on Trade is based on data available in the Business Registers of the Chambers of Commerce, where economic activities are coded according to the classification of economic activities adopted by Istat. In 2009 the data in the Business Registers were re-organised on the basis of Istat’s new classification (ATECO 2007); this entailed changes not only in the codes, but also in the number of businesses ascribed to each code.
Following this re-organisation, also the system used for the Observatory was revised. The main result is a greater number of commodity categories within the entire distributive sector, which enables more detailed analyses. However, year 2009 is the first year of a new time series, and the data are no longer fully comparable with those relating to previous years.
Warnings
As regards the data onsupermarkets and department stores, since January 2004 establishments having at the same time the characteristics of the two categories are no longer surveyed. Such establishments are included in one of the two categories, according to their prevalent activity. Data on persons employed, when missing, are estimated on the basis of the provincial average.
Data on wholesale trade include wholesalers and trade intermediaries.
Moto tradeincludes retail and wholesale sale of vehicles, motorcycles, pasts and accessories, as well as repair and maintenance activities. Data on sale of fuel are excluded from motor trade (although, according to the classification ATECO they should be included) and are included in retail trade. Also excluded from motor trade are data on the intermediation of vehicles, which are included in trade intermediaries (classified as “intermediaries of vehicles and motorcycles, including parts and accessories”).
For what concerns retail sale not in stores, the categories defined in the ATECO classification do not fully correspond to the ones set in the Law Decree114/1998: electronic commerce in fact included in the broader category “sale via mail order houses”, while retail sale within producing enterprise cannot be identified or counted.
In the categories “stalls and markets “ and “vending machines” the data refer to the number of enterprises that carry out such type of activity (registered in the Business Register) and not to single outlets establishments or vending machines.
2. Tourism: accommodation establishments
Hotels and other accommodation establishments
Data on hotels and other accommodation establishments are collected by Istat through the census survey “Capacity of accommodation establishments” which is conducted every year. Accommodation establishments are classified into three broad categories:
The survey unit is represented by the accommodation establishments present on the national territory; the data are collected at the municipal level.
The following variables are surveyed: number of establishments; number of beds, of rooms, of bathrooms in hotels; number of bed-places in supplementary accommodation establishments and private houses for rent. Since 2008 data by size class (number of rooms) are also available.
“Capacity” of accommodation establishments corresponds to the “gross capacity”, i.e. it refers to the number of establishments open during the year, even if for a very short time.
Data on the capacity are measured in compliance with the EU Directive 1995/57/CE on tourism statistics.
Farm-holiday accommodation
In Italy Farm holiday accommodation (agri-tourism) is defined as “accommodation activity provided by farmers” (article 2135 of the Civil Code).
According to the legislation, agri-tourism activities comprise:
Each Region and Province defines and characterises the agri-tourism activity on its territory, and introduces specific legislation on the issue. However, agri-tourism is always include in the agricultural sector.
Data on the number of establishments and their characteristics are collected by Istat on the basis of administrative data managed by the Regions and Autonomous provinces (or other public administrations).
3. Tourism: arrivals of tourists
The survey: “Arrivals of tourists in accommodation establishments”
Istat collects data on arrivals of tourists through the monthly census-survey “Arrivals of tourists in accommodation establishments”, which is conducted on a monthly basis.
As in the case of the survey on the Capacity of accommodation establishments, also for this survey the survey unit is the represented by the accommodation establishments, grouped into the three broad categories (hotels, establishments of supplementary accommodation, private houses for rent).
For each month and in each municipality, the survey collects information on arrivals and nights spent by tourists (Italian and foreign). Information on the characteristics of the establishments and on the tourists (country of residence of foreigners and region/province of residence of Italian tourists) is also collected.
It is underlined that the data on arrivals and night spent by tourists refer only to those tourists who stayed in accommodation establishments and therefore may not always cover the total arrivals of tourists.
The survey “Trips and holidays”
Every years Istat conducts the survey “Trips and holidays”, which is part of the system of social surveys “Multi- purpose surveys on households”,whose results are disaggregated t the regional level.
The survey collects information on trips of at least one overnight stay made by the resident population living in households. The aim of the survey is to detect the number of trips and their main characteristics (destination, type of accommodation, means of transport, duration) as well as the socio-demographic characteristics of tourists. The survey, thus, provides a complete picture of the national tourism demand, quantifying the number of trips (and nights) both to Italy and abroad made for business and personal purposes.
At the EU level, tourism is defined as the set of activities of persons travelling to and staying in places outside their usual environment for not more than one consecutive year for leisure, business and other purposes.. However, some non-voluntary purposes of trips are excluded by convention: non-voluntary stays in hospital and other medical institutions providing clinical/medical treatment, which is prescribed by a doctor, are excluded. Other non-voluntary exclusions include stays in prison and stays in military service (note that vacations from the institutions may be normally included in tourism).
In relation to a given country, three forms of tourism can be distinguished:
(i) Domestic tourism comprises the activities of residents of a given country travelling to and staying in places only within that country but outside their usual environment.
(ii) Inbound tourism comprises the activities of non-residents of a given country travelling to and staying in places in that country and outside their usual environment.
(iii) Outbound tourism comprises the activities of residents of a given country travelling to and staying in places outside that country and outside their usual environment.
More specifically, the survey excludes from tourist flows the trips usually made t a same place with a weekly frequency (or more often).
Also excluded are stays of more than 12 consecutive months and stays for work purposes.
The information provided in the survey refers to the number of trips undertaken and their characteristics (reason, destination, starting data, duration, organisation, type of accommodation, expenditure).
The data are collected every quarter via CATI (Computer assisted telephone interview) from an annual sample 14,000 households (3,500 every quarter). The survey is conducted in the months of April, July, October and January.
The tourism balance is the part of the balance of payments where international transactions in goods and services relating to tourism are recorded. In the standard scheme set by the IMF (International Monetary Fund) it is represented by the item "Travel”: for Italy, credits correspond to the expenditure by non-resident tourist travelling in Italy; debts correspond to the expenditure by resident tourists travelling abroad.
The information used to calculate the tourism balance are collected through the survey on “International tourism in Italy”, which is a sample survey launched in 1996. Since 2007 it was conducted by the Italian Office of Exchange (Ufficio Italiano Cambi), which on 1 January 2008 became part of the Bank of Italy
Objectives of the survey
The survey pursues the following main objectives:
The survey methodology
Data for the tourism balance are collected using the inbound-outbound frontier survey technique. It consists in interviewing a sample of travellers (resident and non-resident) at the Italian frontiers and calculating the number and the nationality of the travellers, in transit.
The sampling is made independently for each type of border (roads, railways, airports and international ports). Data are collected via fate to face interviews.
The main information collected – at various levels of detail – is:
In 2008 around 145,000 interviews were carried out (around 1.1 every thousand travellers at the borders).
5. Traders registered with INPS
Data on this theme relate to traders registered in the pension fund managed by INPS (National Institute of Social Security). The persons registered in such fund can be:
A business is a commercial enterprises when one of the following activities is carried out:
The data provided by INPS are taken from the Administrative Register.
The survey unit is the person who results to be registered during the reference year (even if for a fraction of the year).
The classification variables are:
The analysis variables are
The data are updated on a yearly basis.
Data on trade fairs presented in this section are released by Regione Lombardia, whose policy for the promotion of the competitiveness of Lombardy’s exhibition centres in the national and international markets plays an important role for the regional production system.
Through its General Directorate for Trade, Fairs and Markets, Region Lombardia produces every year a report analysing the trade fair activity. This report is produced in collaboration with Cermes Bocconi and receives a contribution from Fondazione Fiera Milano)
This report analyses the key values and trends of the trade fair sector, taking into consideration a variety of aspects, such as:
In the reports, trade fair events are classified into four broad categories:
1) national trade events: characterised by a low proportion of international exhibitor and visitors. Typical of this category are events dedicated to the consumer segment;
2) international trade events: characterised by a low proportion of international exhibitor and visitors. This denotes a “hub function”, meaning that the event does not depend on the import or export functions of the area where it takes place. This category refers to events addressed to the business segment;
3) import events: characterised by a low proportion of foreign visitors and a high proportion of foreign exhibitors.
4) import events: characterised by a high proportion of foreign visitors and a relative low proportion of foreign exhibitors.
7. Enterprises registered in the Business Register (ATECO section G)
The data relating to enterprises registered in the Business Register of the Chambers of Commerce, are provided by InfoCamere, a company that belongs to the Chambers of Commerce and manages and disseminates all their data.
InfoCamere provides the data on the number of:
Besides the above “stock” data, InfoCamere releases “flow” data, which relate to new registrations and cancellations from the registers that took place during the reference period.
Further information on the Business Register can be found in note to Section 9 – Enterprises.