Data on overnight and day trips taken by NI residents are collected through the Continuous Household Survey (CHS). Further information on survey methodology is available from the Northern Ireland Statistics & Research Agency, Central Survey Unit.
Weighting
The data collected from all respondents to the CHS is weighted by age and gender and grossed to the NI population using monthly NI population projections.
Dealing with missing expenditure
Total expenditure is requested from all respondents and for those taking trips in NI, the expenditure is collected within categories e.g. accommodation, travel, food & drink. In cases where expenditure is missing, wrongly coded 0 or unknown, a mean value is calculated and applied to the missing cases. Where available, a mean value is calculated within expenditure categories. The mean is calculated within the following strata: month of trip and destination country.
Analysing and reporting expenditure
Total expenditure is collected for the respondent’s travelling party (trip expenditure). For analysis, expenditure per adult within the travelling party is used, except in the cases of large parties of children e.g. school trips, where expenditure per person is used.
Data revisions
Monthly data is subject to revision due to the reporting methodolgy. Overnight trips are reported on return from the trip but published based on month of departure. In the case of long trips, monthly data may be published before all trips have been reported. Monthly data will be revised each month with the most up to date information available.
Overnight trips
Information on overnight trips is reported based on the month of departure on the trip.
Respondents are asked about overnight trips, taken in the UK and Republic of Ireland, from which they have returned within the last four weeks. Information on trips to the Isle of Man and Channel Islands are also collected but due to the small number of trips they are included in the GB total for reporting purposes.
Holiday trips include holiday, pleasure, leisure and shopping (excluding grocery) trips.
Day trips
Respondents are asked about any day trips taken in NI or RoI during the last 7 days. For reporting purposes, leisure or tourism day trips may be presented.
Leisure day trips
A leisure day trip is defined as any trip taken that lasted no more than 24 hours, not for business purposes, with no distance restriction.
Tourism day trips
A tourism day trip is defined as a leisure day trip taken outside the respondent's usual environment, away from home for more than 3 hours and less than 24 hours.
