INS cancels publication of some press releases in tourism field; Covid-19 pandemic affected data collection

Some press releases and publications in the field of tourism will be canceled/postponed, because the Covid-19 pandemic strongly affected the direct collection of data from households by face-to-face interview, respectively from economic operators by Esop and/or paper questionnaires for statistical research, the National Institute of Statistics (INS) announced on Monday.

"The imposed measures have led to significant disruptions of some economic sectors, one of the most affected being the tourism sector by limiting direct contact between people, the impossibility of moving individuals for tourism purposes, closing tourist accommodation structures or transforming tourist accommodation structures into quarantine facilities," mentions the same press release.

In this context, statistical surveys in the field of tourism were affected in terms of the quality and completeness of the statistical information collected, which led the INS to revise both the calendar of press releases and the calendar of statistical publications.

Thus, the publication of the press releases related to the first quarter and the second quarter regarding the "Tourist expenses of non-residents in Romania" from June 17, 2020, respectively from September 16, 2020, is canceled.

At the same time, INS cancels the publication of the "Tourist expenses of non-residents - 1st quarter 2020" report of June 25, 2020, as well as the report "Tourist expenses of non-residents - 2nd quarter 2020" of September 24, 2020.

On the other hand, the deadline for the publication of the "Tourist demand of Romanian residents in the 1st quarter of 2020" report is postponed from June 25, 2020 to July 27, 2020.

"In the next period, the National Institute of Statistics will make all the necessary steps regarding the reconstruction of data for the first and second quarters, and from the third quarter of 2020 it will be possible to return to the usual dissemination schedule," the same source said.