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APPENDIX IV.PASSENGER CARD INQUIRY CONDUCTED BY THE CENTRAL STATISTICS OFFICE.Cléireach, An Coiste um Chuntais Phoiblí. In the course of my examination before the Committee of Public Accounts on 6 October, 1955, I promised to furnish a note about the Passenger Card Inquiry conducted by the Central Statistics Office (Vote 4). A note accordingly is attached. (Signed) O. J. REDMOND, Secretary, Department of Finance. 4 November, 1955. The purpose of the Passenger Card Inquiry is to obtain material for estimating the item “Net Receipts from Tourism, Travel, etc.” in the Balance of International Payments Statement. This figure is second in importance only to the figures relating to merchandise trade, for the computation of which detailed returns are obtained from importers and exporters. The inquiry is made by distributing cards on every eighth day (so as to account for the different days of the week) to persons travelling into and out of the State on the principal sea, air and road routes. About 250,000 cards are distributed annually and about 40 per cent. of these are filled in and returned, voluntarily and anonymously. They are then used in making estimates of expenditure by tourists and other externs in the State and the corresponding expenditure outside the country by Irish residents. The procedure by which the estimates are made is explained in the article “Tourist and Other Travel Receipts and Expenditure” in the Irish Trade Journal and Statistical Bulletin of September, 1951. In addition to material for the Balance of Payments Statement it is also possible to derive from the inquiry important information on the nature of the tourist traffic into and out of the country. On this articles have been published in the September, 1953, September 1954, and June, 1955 issues of the Irish Trade Journal and Statistical Bulletin. The cost of the Inquiry is about £4,000 per annum, including the cost of enumeration, printing and clerical work. |
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