Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatística

About - 2003 Characteristic Tourism Activities

The current study, which has resulted from a technical cooperation agreement among IBGE, the Ministry of Tourism and the Brazilian Tourism Institute – EMBRATUR, is aimed at presenting information related to tourism in the country, based on statistics about the production (supply) of goods and services and the expenditure (demand) of families, and on the characteristics of persons employed in this sector. In order to do so, results of economic and household surveys regularly produced by the Institute have been consolidated. Some examples are the Annual Survey of Services (both the Basic Survey and the Products and Services Supplement), the Consumer Expenditure Survey, and the National Household Sample Survey, having year 2003 as reference.

The publication presents the concept of tourism, highlighting the relevance of its analysis and measurement as a social and economic phenomenon, the methodological aspects relative to the definition and classification of products and economic activities that form it, according to criteria of the World Health Organization – OMT, and its correspondence with the National Classification of Economic Activities – CNAE -1.0; the description of sources of information used; an analysis of the indicators selected to characterize this sector, not only with reference to economical aspects of goods and services, but also to expenditure of families with the acquisition of products consumed in non-routine trips, and to the socioeconomic profile of persons aged 10 years and over employed in this kind of activity. It also includes a glossary with the concepts and definitions considered relevant to the understanding of results, besides annexes that show the classification of specific products and tourism products in detail.

The selected economic indicators refer exclusively to formally-constituted production units whose main activity belongs to any of the tourism activities approached in this study. Such indicators indicate the importance of this sector and of its participation in the Brazilian economy.

With this study, IBGE has released, for the first time, results about tourism based on surveys conducted by the Institute itself, and has contributed, to the construction of an integrated statistical system that will enable the analysis and evaluation of this important economic segment.