INS cancels publication of Q1 data on tourist expenses of non-residents in Romania

The National Institute of Statistics (INS) announced on Wednesday that it is canceling the publication of the June 17, 2020 press release regarding the tourist expenses of non-residents in Romania related to the first quarter due to the data collection problems during the restrictive measures imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic. "The Covid-19 pandemic severely affected the direct collection of data from households by face-to-face interviews, respectively from economic agents through Aesop and/or paper questionnaires for statistical surveys. The imposed measures led to significant disruptions of some economic sectors, one of the most affected being tourism, due to the limitation of the direct contact between people, the impossibility of individuals to travel for tourist purposes, the closing of the tourist reception structures or the transformation of some tourist accommodation structures into quarantine reception facilities. In this context, the statistical research in the field of tourism were affected in terms of quality and completeness of the statistical information collected, which led the National Institute of Statistics to revise both the calendar of press releases and the calendar of statistical publications, so that the publication of the Q1-related press release of 17.06.2020 is canceled," mentions the institution. The INS emphasizes that, in the next period, it will make all the necessary steps regarding the collection of the data for the first and second quarters, following that, from the third quarter of 2020, it will be possible to return to the usual publication calendar. AGERPRES (RO - editor: Daniel Badea; EN - author: Bogdan Gabaroi; editor: Simona Iacob)