Data Collection Improvement: Daily Self-Enumeration Accommodation Survey

Abstract

Until now, BPS - Statistics Indonesia has conducted monthly accommodation surveys both for the star and non-star accommodation categories to provide information on commercial accommodation activities at the national and regional levels. Both star and non-star accommodation categories are done by complete enumeration in each region. Statistics include guest night and room capacity to obtain the occupancy rate of a hotel room. The data contains daily accommodation information that is collected every month, so then it will be entered completely in each region following the observation month. Due to the timeliness requirements for monthly press releases, BPS has implemented online data entry since 2017. It may seem obvious, regions that have more interest will have an impact on a bigger number of accommodations, which also affects the number of enumerators and may lead to such problems especially in response burden. Unfortunately, the same problem is also not easily avoided by regions with less accommodation, mostly due to the distance issues to the accommodation area and its spread in the region. Therefore, a new data collection strategy is required to provide respondents with convenience in order to increase response rates, as well as to reduce the workload of enumerators which also leads to the lower cost. The outbreak of COVID-19 has posed unprecedented problems for National Statistical Offices (NSOs) around the world, including BPS – Statistics Indonesia. This crisis has led us to think in new ways and make decisions that will change our statistical operations in order to meet ongoing data needs even throughout the epidemic. The purpose of this paper is to discuss the evolution of accommodation surveys, which are designed to not only solve problems but also achieve objectives. Currently, there are nearly 180 active users of this self-enumeration accommodation survey for about 142 distinct accommodations across Indonesia. Moreover, this addition has proven to have succeeded in increasing the response rate average from 57.17% in 2020 to 68,35% in 2021.