Can Official Statistics Measure Tourism Clusters at the District Level? International Standards, National Practice and an Audit of Uzbekistan's Statistical Data
Abstract
Statistical identification of tourism clusters requires indicators that are comparable across small territorial units and consistent over time, yet the suitability of official statistics for this purpose is rarely examined before models are estimated. This paper asks to what extent Uzbekistan's official statistics allow tourism clusters to be measured at the district level. It combines a document analysis of international tourism statistics standards and the national methodological framework with a metadata audit of all 3,231 indicators of the SIAT database of the National Statistics Committee and an inventory of tourism releases published by the 14 regional statistical offices. The national framework is conceptually aligned with IRTS 2008, and its primary sources-enterprise reports, the business register, and the E-mehmon guest registration system-record data at the district level. Public dissemination, however, is much coarser: only 420 SIAT indicators (13.0%) are broken down by district, and of the 59 indicators in the dedicated tourism block, none is available by district and only two by region. Tourism-related district series are limited to section I (accommodation and food services) entities, services and investment, with simultaneous breaks in 2020, 2021 and 2024 that also appear in all-activity totals. District tables on accommodation and tour operators exist in regional releases, but as a continuous 2017-2023 series only for tour operators in nine regions. Supply-side concentration can therefore be measured defensibly for 2017-2025, whereas demand can be observed only in recent cross-sections. The paper proposes an attribute-to-data mapping and specific improvements to district-level tourism statistics.
Keywords
tourism statistics; sub-national measurement; tourism clusters; IRTS 2008; data audit; Uzbekistan