Embratur Tourism Survey - Methodology

The surveys of the profiles of the foreigner tourists started in 1983, with observance of the methodologic procedures recommended by World Tourism Organization, which permitted comparison on a year to year basis. However, some changes were made over the years, so as to adapt to changes in the tourism flux and to obtain more accuracy of the responses.

The surveyers interviewed both incoming and outgoing tourists.
The following factors were surveyed (there small variations between the questionaires applied to the incoming and outgoing tourists):
- purpose of the trip
- organization of the trip (self-organized or with travel agency)
- factors which influenced in the decision to visit Brazil
- means of communication used to decide for the trip
- most visited cities
- profession
- age
- average stay
- average daily expense
- annual income
- intention to return to Brazil
- lodging
- evaluation of infrastructre
- general evaluation of the trip, compared to expectations

Read this summary of the profile of foreigner tourist in Brazil.

The sampling model adopted was the Simple Random Sample, having as dimension variable the income of the tourists. By this method, each element of the population of tourists has the same probability of being interviewed, allowing the realization of inferences which represent the universe of tourists.

The size of the sample was based on data about the total number of tourists; the size of the incoming tourists sample was 3,212, and of the outgoing tourists was 3,066. These samples carry a confidence of 95%, permitting that the results of the samples be extended to the whole universe.
Information were collected in two different epochs, one during the high season (February) and one during the low season (November); the double sampling factors in the variations due to the sazonality of the tourism flow.

Also, the sample size at each of the portals was in proportion to representativity of the portal in the total flux of tourists. The interviews were conducted at the moment that foreigners were leaving and Brazilians were returning to the country. Interviews were conducted at the airports in Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo, Recife, Salvador, Manaus, Fortaleza, Porto Alegre and Santa Catarina, as well as at the border checkpoints in Santana do Livramento, Uruguaiana, Chuí and Foz do Iguacu (all these checkpoints are in the southern States of Rio Grande do Sul and Paraná).



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