80th NSS round: Surveys soon on health, domestic tourism, and travel

The survey on health will build upon the 79th round of the NSS, which had covered only a few topics on health, in contrast to the latest round, which is expected to be more extensive

Surveys on domestic tourism expenditure, health and household travel will be part of the 80th round of National Sample Survey (NSS), which are expected to be launched by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI) next year.

“All the three surveys will be for a duration of one year. While the survey on health will be launched in January, surveys on household travel and domestic tourism expenditure are expected to be launched in July. The survey on household travel is being done on the request made by the Ministry of Railways, which will use the data to determine production of coaches,” a government official said, requesting anonymity.

The official said the objective is to assess the spatial demand matrix for different transportation modes, influencing factors affecting the mode and destination choice. “Besides, it will help in assessing the price elasticity of travel demand and also help in formulating a coach production plan,” the official said.

The survey on health will build upon the 79th round of NSS, which had covered only a few topics on health, in contrast to the latest round, which is expected to be more extensive.

The tourism survey, on the other hand, will be the third such study in the series. The National Statistical Organisation (NSO) had conducted the first survey on domestic tourism during 65th round (July 2008 to June 2009). Again in 72nd round (July 2014 to June 2015), the NSO carried out a survey on domestic tourism expenditure. The one planned for 2020 was abandoned due to Covid-19 pandemic.

“The tourism ministry is the main user of this domestic tourism survey as it is one of the major and inevitable data sources for the sector. This data may be used to generate estimates of different parameters of the Indian tourism sector and UNWTO (United Nations World Tourism Organisation),” the official said.

The ministry, in its “Vision 2024”, had talked about increasing the surveys to enable data-based decision-making.

The NSO is mandated to conduct large-scale sample surveys in diverse fields across India such as Annual Survey of Industries (ASI), Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS), and Household Consumption Expenditure Survey (HCES). Earlier, the 79th round of NSS covered the period between July 2022 and June 2023, and it undertook surveys on Ayurveda, Yoga & Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha, Sowa Rigpa and Homoeopathy (AYUSH) during the round, the report for which was released recently.

Key objectives
 

> Figuring out factors that affect how consumers choose mode of travel and destination

> Evaluating price elasticity of travel demand, i.e. how higher or lower prices may see customers put off or advance travel bookings

> Generating estimates of different parameters of tourism sector