The Tourism Satellite Account (TSA) for the Republic of North Macedonia was developed during the project funded by the European Union “Improving the Production and Dissemination of Statistics EUROPEAID/139628/DH/SER/MK”.
The TSA is an instrument that consists of an integrated information system, whose main objective is to present the activities and products, directly or indirectly, related with Tourism. It allows assessing the economic dimension of this sector, as well as allowing a comparison with other countries.
According to the TSA, the gross value added generated by tourism (GVAGT) in 2019 accounted for 2.45% of the GVA of the economy of the Republic of North Macedonia and stood at 23 685.5 million MKD at basic prices.
Tourism consumption in the economic territory was estimated at 28 033.8 million MKD, representing 2.36% of the gross domestic product (GDP).
Inbound tourism
Inbound tourism expenditures reached 22 189.4 million MKD. Expenditures made by foreign tourists constituted 76.0% of inbound tourism expenditure, while the remaining 24.0% were made by foreign same-day visitors.
Expenditures on food remained predominant for tourists with 36.1% of inbound tourism expenditures, followed by expenditure on accommodation, 29.6%, and passenger transport services, 13.5%. These three components made up 76.6% of the total inbound tourism expenditure (Table 1).
Domestic tourism
Domestic tourism expenditure amounted to 5 844.4 million MKD. In terms of share, accommodation services are the largest component of domestic tourism expenditure and accounted for 56.1% (Table 2).
Internal tourism
The share of domestic tourism expenditure in the total internal tourism consumption in the Republic of North Macedonia was 20.9% in 2019, while the remaining 79.1% was from inbound tourism expenditure. The expenditures on accommodation were dominant with 39.0% of internal tourism expenditures, followed by expenditures on food and beverage serving services, 33.7%, and road passenger transport services, 16.2 per cent (Graph 1).
Outbound tourism
Outbound tourism expenditure refers to spending by residents of the Republic of North Macedonia while travelling abroad. The outbound tourism expenditures abroad were 5 642.3 million MKD. The main component of outbound tourism expenditure was accommodation services with 33.8%, followed by food and beverage serving services, 31.5%, and passenger transport services with 31.5% (Table 3).