Project: Indicators for the Monitoring and Forecasts of Tourism Activity (IMPACTUR) – 3rd phase
Team: Fernando Perna (coord.), Maria João Custódio, Pedro Gouveia, Pedro Cascada, Ricardo Baptista, Célia Ramos, Américo Caetano, Paulo Rodrigues.
Contractor: Turismo de Portugal ip.
Execution time limit: 2010/2012

Summary:

Considering that statistical information allows knowledge, explanation and projection of the main variables of tourist demand and supply, it becomes indispensable, not only to support and maintain the strategic decisions of public and private sector but also to enable a better knowledge and backup of Tourism reality through rigorous statistical information, with scientific added value and provided in time for agents and regional destinations.

It regards to a contribution for that knowledge, debate and criticism of private economical agents and public agencies can reflect real matters and tourism future challenges. Under this perspective on the 12th of January of 2007 a specific agreement was celebrated between Tourism of Portugal, IP and the Algarve’s University, which aimed the methodological construction and an online publication of monitoring indexes and tourism activity forecast model – IMPACTUR.

The IMPACTUR - Indicators for the Monitoring and Forecasts of Tourism Activity is available today on the following institutional websites: www.impactur.pt, www.iturismo.pt and www.ciitt.ualg.pt/, generate a chart of analysis and forecast of tourism sector behaviour, as an economical and business sector, methodologically validated, interpreted, subject to be operated in useful time and comprehensive in terms of variables and territorial cover.

Cumulatively with the output and regular publication of this vast process, the IMPACTUR development has as priority its national consolidation and the presentation and experiences exchange of the project internationally, which aim the enrichment and sharing of good practices with tourism entities who work in different destinations and products. In the surplus value of complementarities between IMPACTUR, Proturismo and Tourism Satellite Account, the second phase of the IMPACTUR project intends to optimize:

• Methodological Developments;
• Consolidation of econometric models which bear the forecast component of IMPACTUR;
• Proposal of new indicators and forecast supportive methodologies;
• Changes in the Internal Technological Architecture;
• Presentation of New Routines and Outputs;
• Internationalization.