Italy - Travel services (% of commercial service imports)

The value for Travel services (% of commercial service imports) in Italy was 11.76 as of 2020. As the graph below shows, over the past 50 years this indicator reached a maximum value of 36.28 in 1992 and a minimum value of 10.94 in 1982.

Definition: Travel services (% of commercial service imports) covers goods and services acquired from an economy by travelers in that economy for their own use during visits of less than one year for business or personal purposes. Travel services include the goods and services consumed by travelers, such as lodging, meals, and transport (within the economy visited).

Source: International Monetary Fund, Balance of Payments Statistics Yearbook and data files.

See also:

Year Value
1970 21.37
1971 23.20
1972 20.21
1973 20.43
1974 15.21
1975 13.69
1976 11.69
1977 12.00
1978 13.55
1979 13.44
1980 13.58
1981 10.98
1982 10.94
1983 11.10
1984 12.82
1985 12.92
1986 16.44
1987 19.04
1988 22.77
1989 22.98
1990 23.88
1991 30.26
1992 36.28
1993 35.34
1994 31.17
1995 30.16
1996 30.74
1997 31.27
1998 30.10
1999 28.25
2000 27.17
2001 24.69
2002 26.15
2003 26.77
2004 23.83
2005 24.02
2006 22.17
2007 21.76
2008 23.80
2009 25.85
2010 24.13
2011 24.45
2012 24.50
2013 24.71
2014 25.05
2015 24.06
2016 24.16
2017 24.30
2018 24.09
2019 24.96
2020 11.76

Development Relevance: Trade in services differs from trade in goods because services are produced and consumed at the same time. Thus services to a traveler may be consumed in the producing country (for example, use of a hotel room) but are classified as imports of the traveler's country. In other cases services may be supplied from a remote location; for example, insurance services may be supplied from one location and consumed in another.

Limitations and Exceptions: Balance of payments statistics, the main source of information on international trade in services, have many weaknesses. Disaggregation of important components may be limited and varies considerably across countries. There are inconsistencies in the methods used to report items. And the recording of major flows as net items is common (for example, insurance transactions are often recorded as premiums less claims). These factors contribute to a downward bias in the value of the service trade reported in the balance of payments. Efforts are being made to improve the coverage, quality, and consistency of these data. Eurostat and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, for example, are working together to improve the collection of statistics on trade in services in member countries. Still, difficulties in capturing all the dimensions of international trade in services mean that the record is likely to remain incomplete. Cross-border intrafirm service transactions, which are usually not captured in the balance of payments, have increased in recent years. An example is transnational corporations' use of mainframe computers around the clock for data processing, exploiting time zone differences between their home country and the host countries of their affiliates. Another important dimension of service trade not captured by conventional balance of payments statistics is establishment trade - sales in the host country by foreign affiliates. By contrast, cross-border intrafirm transactions in merchandise may be reported as exports or imports in the balance of payments.

Statistical Concept and Methodology: The balance of payments (BoP) is a double-entry accounting system that shows all flows of goods and services into and out of an economy; all transfers that are the counterpart of real resources or financial claims provided to or by the rest of the world without a quid pro quo, such as donations and grants; and all changes in residents' claims on and liabilities to nonresidents that arise from economic transactions. All transactions are recorded twice - once as a credit and once as a debit. In principle the net balance should be zero, but in practice the accounts often do not balance, requiring inclusion of a balancing item, net errors and omissions. The concepts and definitions underlying the data are based on the sixth edition of the International Monetary Fund's (IMF) Balance of Payments Manual (BPM6). Balance of payments data for 2005 onward will be presented in accord with the BPM6. The historical BPM5 data series will end with data for 2008, which can be accessed through the World Development Indicators archives. The complete balance of payments methodology can be accessed through the International Monetary Fund website (www.imf.org/external/np/sta/bop/bop.htm).

Aggregation method: Weighted average

Periodicity: Annual

Classification

Topic: Private Sector & Trade Indicators

Sub-Topic: Imports