Conducting comprehensive statistics in tourism is a requirement of the day

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Published on Tuesday, 17 April 2018 17:11

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Modern tourism is a socioeconomic phenomenon, where complex intra-field and inter-sectoral integration is present and sharp competition exists, and also a type of business. Numerous economic relations emerged during the development of tourism, as well as managing processes, marketing research, and scientific researches on the implementation of new tourism and recreational projects will increase the importance of collecting and utilizing statistical data.

Let's look at some figures to see how important statistics are in tourism. According to the information of World Tourism Organization (WTO), which operates under the auspices of the United Nations, the largest international tourism management organization, in 2016, 1 billion 235 million tourists worldwide have been registered, which is 46 million more than in 2015. In the same period, tourism revenues amounted to $ 1 trillion 220 billion, or $ 24 billion more than in 2015. In general, the number of tourists worldwide has increased by 24.7 times compared to 1950 (25 million), tourism revenues increased by 610 times compared to that period ($ 2 billion). At present, tourism constitutes 7 percent of total commodities and services across the globe. However, according to the WTO, world tourism will rise by 3.8 percent annually by 2030. As a result, it is expected that 1.4 billion people will travel in 2020 and 1.8 billion in 2030.

Regarding statistical indicators for our country, according to the data of this organization, which we are a member since 2001, in 2016, 2 million 45 thousand tourists from abroad arrived in Azerbaijan, which is 6.4 percent more than in the previous year. The tourism revenues of the country amounted to $ 2.714 billion in the same period, which was $ 400 million more than in 2015. According to the data, tourism revenues of our country accounted for 0.6% of the global tourism market. According to information posted on the website of the State Statistical Committee of Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic, 413 thousand 357 tourists came to the autonomous republic in 2017 and 122 thousand 597 tourists from Nakhchivan left for different destinations.

As you can see, the indicators in the tourism industry are quite attractive. In order to speak the language of figures in this area, it is necessary to know what kind of relationships the tourism has with different sectors of the economy. Also, as objects of statistical analysis in tourism, traveling tourists and their interests, origin of the country, demographic composition, the number of nights at their destination, as well as the capacity of the tourist destination in the tourist country or region, the number of other available service areas and the action profiles are of interest. Undoubtedly, the most interesting indicator among statistical data on tourism activities is the income from this activity. Because tourism is the best way to promote a country or region, and also a field that brings in income in non-traditional fields, especially in terms of currency revenues.

 As a system, tourism is a sensitive field. From this point of view, tourism statistics is one of the best methodologies for identifying the strength of factors affecting the development of various macro and micro levels in the field. As the current changes in the world market, fluctuations in exchange rates, and fors-major situations affect the tourism, statistical analysis of their results is of interest in research and development of this field.

In tourism science literature, there are facts that tourism revenues have a strong impact on the local economy and that there are about 7-9 new jobs created by tourists from abroad. In this regard, according to the information of the State Statistics Committee of the Republic of Azerbaijan, taking into account the fact that in 2016 the number of  foreign citizens  using services of hotels and hotel type institutions in our autonomous republic is about 43,000, it is interesting how much useful so many foreign tourists. Tourism is also closely related to agriculture and passenger transportation. From this point of view, the tourists visiting the autonomous republic come to the region by means of which means of transport, or knowing how much income family farmers get from the tourists with their high quality local food products in Nakhchivan.

Now, the origin of tourists around the world, especially foreign tourists coming to the country, their interest, travel motives and demographic indicators are collected as statistical information and are used when needed. To justify their importance, just give an example. It is known that the tourism is attractive, but it also requires a large number of security measures. From this point of view, supposing any foreigner travels continuously to a place as "tourist". This may be a common occurrence. Now there are tourism types, such as shopping, treatment or business trips, so tourists travel regularly, sometimes occasionally once a month. This is especially common in frontier trade zones. But as it is shown in the theory of tourism, it is possible to say that with the usual logic, after a visit to a touristic destination for purely acquaintance or visit purposes, next time he travels another tourist destination, not the same place. Thus, the statistics of tourists based on the country's origin can be a very good database in terms of tourism safety and purposeful management.

Tourism is classified as coming, going and domestic tourism. Although we talk about the attractiveness of coming tourism, we must also note that the trend towards going tourism is in every citizen. Now every citizen of our independent country is able to travel to any country of the world for interests and income except for the enemy country that has occupied Azerbaijani territories. This is, in fact, the happiness of living in an independent country. However, when we approach the issue from the economic side, we see that it is important to have the right statistics to replace going tourism with domestic tourism. So, as it was mentioned above, last year, information about nearly 123,000 residents of the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic visiting the different countries and for what purpose would make possibility to create primary ideas to direct some of them to domestic tourism.

For example, on the basis of observations we can say that residents of the Autonomous Republic go Turkey and Iran for the treatment, to Turkey, Georgia, Russia and other places for holiday and go to Turkey, United Arab Emirates for shopping, to Irag, Iran, Saudi Arabia for pilgrimage. However, there are many places in Nakhchivan for rest, recreation and leisure time. It is possible to offer a more affordable envelope to a large number of citizens of the autonomous republics who prefer ecotourism and recreation in abroad. When it comes to price, this factor is one of the important factors in tourism as well as in all sectors of the economy. In the market economy, adjusting prices to existing demand is one of the conditions that make it rational use of resources and more efficient use of labor resources. That's why we can show the importance of creating a statistical database for flexible price tactics in a field sensitive to seasonal factors like tourism. Based on the collected data, timely analyzes provide an opportunity for the sustainable development of the tourism industry, to organize a profitable arrangement for a tourism enterprise, to come to the forefront of predictable social and environmental consequences. The forecasting is one of the most important issues for the future success of any economic sphere, including tourism.

The state care for the development of official statistics in the autonomous republic has provided great opportunities for improving the system of statistical indicators in tourism. “The State Program on the development of official statistics in Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic for 2018-2025, approved by the Order of the Chairman of the Supreme Assembly of the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic dated March 2, 2018, it is planned to expand the scope of the statistical system in the field of tourism. We hope that, as in the previous period, the comprehensive official statistics in the tourism industry in the future will allow improving governance in this important area and the planning of tourism in line with the modern current level of socio-economic development.

                                                                    Ali JABBAROV

                                                        "Sharg gapisi" newspaper

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