Data needs, resources, and issues of the travel and tourism industry, a major industry in the United States that depends heavily on the existence of a safe and efficient transportation system, are covered. The paper provides an overview of the U.S. travel and tourism industry, as well as current data sources and statistics. A variety of information sources are reviewed including federal government agencies and various offices within these agencies, state government agencies, as well as private sector sources. The focus of this paper is on identifying gaps and problems in existing data systems and on recommended improvements. It considers the transportation data needs (specifically related to travel and tourism) of the federal government in formulating policy, as well as the data needs of the travel and tourism industry. The gaps and problems identified revolve around four major categories: research orientation/priorities, research methodologies, data coverage, and data products. A variety of recommendations for improvements are included in this paper. Travel and tourism, the nation's third largest retail industry and its second largest employer, needs to become a priority industry for statistical coverage in future federal agency and other programs. This will require increased funding for travel-related data collection at the federal level as well as through public-private partnerships, and improved communications among researchers, data users, and the various organisations involved. The top priority of the travel and tourism community is the reinstatement of the large-scale National Travel Survey formerly conducted by the Bureau of the Census but terminated after the last survey in 1977. Recommendations involving research methodologies include the use of larger samples, production of ongoing time series data, and standardisation of definitions and methodologies. Data coverage recommendations include improvements to the SIC code system and related data collection efforts, more frequent data, greater coverage of other aspects of travel (i.e., rail, bus), production of more marketing-oriented information, as well as greater attention to regional needs and collection of data to support the development of the scenic byways program.
Abstract