Methodology for the compilation of international travel statistics

International travel statistics gives an overview of physical persons crossing the Estonian border to travel abroad (outbound travel) or to Estonia (inbound travel).

International travel is a visit of a resident of one country to another country, if the main purpose of the visit is not gainful activities or long-term studies in the country of destination.

The methodology for the compilation of international travel statistics, which uses passive mobile positioning, was developed jointly by Eesti Pank, University of Tartu and OÜ Positium LBS. OÜ Positium LBS collects and processes anonymous data from mobile operators with statistical models and extends these data to the general data set. This methodology gives a reliable overview of the physical persons crossing the Estonian border to travel abroad (outbound travel) or to Estonia (inbound travel). The mobile positioning data are anonymous. Data are processed, analysed and presented by using a methodology that does not allow for any kind of identification of the phone number or phone owner.

Eesti Pank uses international travel statistics for calculating the imports and exports of travel services for the current account of the balance of payments.

In compliance with the balance of payments methodology, mobile positioning determines the residence of a passenger by the permanent residence criterion, regardless of the resident’s citizenship. The presumable residence of mobile device owners is determined by the residency of the SIM card operator. The amount, length and nature of the visits of Estonian residents and non-residents are determined by the location-based use patterns of mobile devices, depending on the country and region of use.

Statistics on inbound travel reflects only the same-day and overnight visits of non-residents to Estonia. Therefore, the following data are excluded from the source data:

• “cross-border noise”, i.e. the registration of phone roaming by the customers of foreign mobile operators that are incidentally in the coverage area of mobile phone masts located near borders (e.g. crew members and passengers of passing ships);
• transit travel registered in Estonia's main transit corridors (Tallinn-Ikla and Tallinn-Narva roads and the Estonian section of Riga-Pskov road, Tallinn Airport and major ports) in case the length of stay in Estonia is shorter than a certain limit;
• long-term stay of foreign workers or students, who have stayed in Estonia for over 91 days during the past 12 months.

Statistics on outbound travel reflects the same-day and overnight visits of residents to foreign countries. Therefore, the following data are excluded from the source data:

• “cross-border noise”, i.e. the registration of phone roaming by Estonian residents that are incidentally in the coverage area of foreign mobile operators;
• transit travel through foreign countries;
• long-term visits by Estonian residents who work or study abroad, in case they stayed there for over 91 days during the past 12 months.

Outbound travel by Estonian residents may include visits to a number of countries. The country of destination is the farthest country from Estonia or the country (countries) where at least two consecutive days have been spent. The other countries, where the length of stay is shorter than a certain limit, and which are not the only country during travelling, are classified as transit countries.

The number and length of visits by residents and non-residents are calculated with statistical models and extended to the general data set, while also taking into account other official data sources (number of passengers in Tallinn Port, Tallinn Airport, crossings of frontiers on the Estonian eastern border, official accommodation statistics).

The anonymous mobile positioning data are used in compliance with the Estonian and EU legislation on data protection and personal data protection (Estonian Personal Data Protection Act; EU directive 95/46/EC on privacy protection of personal data processing and movement of personal data; EU directive 2002/58/EC concerning the processing of personal data and the protection of privacy in the electronic communications sector). The mobile positioning methodology has been developed and used in various fields in Estonia since 2006 in cooperation with the Data Protection Inspectorate regarding personal data protection aspects.

Please acknowledge the source when using the statistical data of Eesti Pank and OÜ Positium LBS.