The increasingly important role of tourism in the economy, its growth and potential for
job creation, the fragmentation of this business sector, and the cross-sectoral nature of tourism
policies are all elements that have led the OECD's Tourism Committee to design a new economic
instrument for tourism which provides insights into the socio-economic impact, structure and
development of activities related to tourism. The Tourism Satellite Accounts method, initially
proposed by French researchers and first successfully applied to tourism by Canadian
statisticians, provides a way to describe and measure the magnitude of tourism as a form of
economic activity in a way that is consistent and comparable to conventional industries (Smith, 2000: 530). Since the Ottawa conference in 1991, several countries have published their own TSA
and even more, are in the stage of creating their national TSA. The aim of this paper is to examine
the possibilities for a Greek TSA development, taking into consideration the worldwide experience
and the country’s statistical systems’ strengths and weaknesses
