The National Statistics Office is hosting a specialised workshop for researchers, academics, and statistical professionals interested in learning how Malta’s official economic and tourism statistics are compiled using harmonised methods in line with European standards. This half day event will provide clear, practical insights into four key areas of NSO’s work: the European System of Accounts (ESA), Supply and Use Tables (SUTs), Tourism Statistics, and Tourism Satellite Accounts (TSA). 

Participants will gain an overview of the methodological frameworks used in national accounts, how SUTs are constructed and balanced, the range of tourism indicators produced by NSO, and how TSA is used to measure tourism’s economic contribution.  This workshop offers an excellent opportunity for those who wish to better understand the theoretical and operational foundations behind the compilation of Malta’s national accounts and tourism statistics. The workshop will be delivered by NSO staff with extensive experience in compiling economic and tourism statistics in accordance with European standards.

The agenda for this workshop is ambitious, as it covers technically demanding domains of official statistics.  Still, the participants will be given opportunities to ask questions about any part of these statistical processes during this workshop.

Session1
a: Overview of European System of National and Regional Accounts; Duration: 1.5 hours; Intructor: Ms. Vanessa Dimech;

The European System of Accounts (ESA) is the statistical framework used across the European Union to establish the methodology for producing harmonised and high-quality national accounts, public finance, and balance of payments statistics. This methodological framework extends beyond the production of key macroeconomic statistics, such as the Gross Domestic Product and Gross National Income, to also encompass comprehensive supporting accounts and supplementary data necessary for monitoring national and European economic performance.    This information session provides a conceptual and operational overview of the ESA framework, explaining how the strict implementation of its guidelines ensures the production of harmonised, high-quality national accounts data at the European level.

b: Supply and Use tables; Duration: 2 hours; Intructor: Ms. Jennifer Vassallo

Supply and Use Tables (SUTs) are detailed matrices that give a comprehensive view of an economy by tracking the flow of all goods and services within it. SUTs are structured to corroborate the origin of products from domestic industries and imports (the supply side) and their final destination, whether as intermediate consumption by industries or as final use, such as household spending, investment, and exports (the demand side). The core principle of this framework is that for each product, total supply must equal total use. The balancing between the supply and demand sides of the economy is achieved at detailed levels of the economic and consumption sectors. For compiling National Accounts, SUTs are used to reconcile the expenditure and output approaches, reducing discrepancies between these two methods.
The session will explain how SUTs are compiled according to the ESA framework. Using practical examples, Ms Vassallo will demonstrate how balancing is carried out across all economic sectors to ensure that the resulting matrix provides a clear and accurate picture of the economy's performance. Ms Vassallo will also explain how SUTs can be utilised to mitigate the discrepancy between the output and expenditure approaches in national accounts.

Session2
a: Overview of Tourism Statistics; Duration: 1.5 hours; Intructor: Josianne Galea

Tourism is a vital pillar of Malta's economy, contributing to a significant portion of the nation's gross domestic product.  Furthermore, this industry is a significant source of employment, generating thousands of jobs that support a substantial segment of the local population. The production of official statistics is crucial to support policy decision in such an important sector of the local economy.
During the past years, NSO has invested significantly in this domain, developing high-quality and timely statistical products on various aspects of both supply-side and demand-side tourism.  Moreover, to address new policy priorities in sustainable tourism, the NSO is developing new products to measure the impact of tourism on the environment and the general well-being of society. In addition, the NSO continues to refine its methodology for measuring the economic impact of tourism, both directly and indirectly. 

This session will give an overview of all the statistical products related to tourism, which are compiled by the NSO based on both survey and register data. Mr Zerafa will also describe the methodologies employed for collecting and compiling these statistics. Additionally, Mr Zerafa will discuss the policy relevance of these statistics and how socio-economic indicators derived from these sources are utilised internally across various statistical domains.

b: Tourism Satellite Accounts; Duration: 1.5 hours; Intructor: Ms. Martina Vassallo

A Tourism Satellite Account (TSA) is a standard statistical framework designed to quantify the total direct economic contribution of tourism to an economy. It achieves this scope by isolating tourism-related spending from various industries, such as accommodation, transport, and food, which isn't visible in traditional GDP calculations. The compilation of TSA is based on international guidelines issued by the OECD, which ensure the production of high-quality and comparable results from this exercise. TSA is statistical product rooted in the Supply and Use Tables, however, survey and register data play an essential role in the compilation of its tables.  NSO also compiles several other supporting statistical tables that shed more light on this crucial economic sector. Currently, NSO is developing a new methodology to measure also the indirect impact of tourism on the economy.

This session provides an overview of TSA and the work involved in compiling harmonised TSA tables, in line with international guidelines.  Ms Vassallo will explain how SUT is used in the main TSA table, upon which NSO can measure the direct impact of tourism on Malta’s gross domestic product.  Ms Vassallo will also discuss NSO’s plans to extend this methodology to quantify the indirect effect of Tourism on Malta’s economy. 

Venue Address: National Statistics Office Malta, Lascaris, Valletta VLT 2000, Malta

Instructors