the General Authority for Statistics (GASTAT) launched the Tourism Establishments Survey project, which is a comprehensive annual economic survey  provided by GASTAT on the tourism sector in Saudi Arabia. The importance of this survey lies in the comprehensive data it provides about the characteristic activities of tourism, such as: number of tourism establishments, number of people working in them and their compensation, value of revenues and expenditure, capital formation and other data related to the aspect of tourism display.   

The Tourism Establishments Survey aims to provide data that will help in reaching indicators to calculate the extent of tourism’s contribution to the gross domestic product, in addition to data about tourism activities that aid in reaching indicators that help in knowing the growth rates of each tourism activity, knowing its capacity of workers by gender and nationality, identifying the amount of compensation paid to workers and other expenses according to different tourism activities, knowing the volume of revenues of each tourism activity, operating and performance rates in all tourism activities, and the percentage of foreign partners' participation in the ownership of the capital of tourism activities.

This, of course, contributes to providing the needs of government agencies and authorities and the private sector in terms of statistical data and information about tourism activities. In addition, this data can be used in making local, regional and international comparisons, conducting studies and analyses, and knowing the capacity of tourism activities in terms of official and temporary jobs.

GASTAT stated that the survey will be carried out through phone calls, self-completion of data through e-mail, and the record data of the relevant government entities.

GASTAT welcomed the main partnership - aimed at achieving the aspirations of the decision maker - and the relevant ministries and authorities as well as investors in the tourism sector to reach high-impact results that positively support the country’s efforts in developing the tourism sector. GASTAT stated that integration with government sectors in implementing high-impact, comprehensive surveys is a strategic step to achieve targets with greater reliability and quality.

It is worth mentioning that GASTAT is the official and only statistical reference for statistical data and information in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and it carries out all statistical work, technical supervision of the statistical sector, design and implementation of field surveys, conducting statistical studies and research, analyzing data and information, and all works of documenting and preserving statistical information and data that cover all aspects of life in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia from its multiple sources. It is also responsible for codifying, classifying, analyzing and extracting its statistical indicators.