Discussion Papers on Economics,
University of Southern Denmark, Department of Economics

Abstract: International tourism statistics are notorious for being over-aggregated, lacking information about the tourist, available with a lag, and often provided only at the annual level. In response to this, we suggest a unique complementary approach that is computer-science driven and relies on big data collected from a leading travel portal. The novel approach enables us to obtain a systematic, consistent, and reliable approximation for tourism flows, and this with unparalleled precision, frequency, and depth of information. Our approach delivers also an unprecedented list of all tourist attractions in a country, along with data on the popularity and quality of these attractions. We provide validity tests of the approach pursued and present one application of the data by illuminating the patterns and changes in travel flows in selected European destinations during and after the Covid-19 pandemic. This project opens a range of new research questions and possibilities for cultural economics, in particular related to cultural heritage and tourism.

Keywords: Tourism; Cultural heritage; Big data; Covid-19

JEL-codes: J60; L83; O10; Z11; Z30

Language: English

66 pages, November 2, 2023

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