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Anthony Edwards' recent study “The Reliability of Tourism Statistics ”in Travel & Tourism Analyst [Edwards 1991 in References below] is timely, coming before the WTO International Conference on Travel and Tourism Statistics (Ottawa, June 25–28, 1991) and the Meeting on Tourism Statistics at the International Statistical Institute's 38th Session (together with the International Association for Official Statistics, Cairo, September 1991). He is one of the most expert users and analysts of these problematic data. Both WTO [1985] and OECD [1982, 1984] published methodological reports on the main national statistics they publish. A recent book [Bar‐On 1989a], three articles in The Tourist Review [Bar‐On 1983, 1988] and in International Tourism Quarterly [Withyman 1985] and a paper at the Beijing Conference of IAOS [Bar‐On 1990] discussed many of the problems and solutions, and they were covered at the Crete Europa Conference [Schmidhauser 1991]. The following should interest readers producing or analysing tourism data:

The increased awareness of the need to preserve and improve the natural and social environment has given rise to many studies and international conferences. Coast cities are especially vulnerable, since many have to cope with industrial and other pollution from inland as well as their own (which may include smog, e.g. Los Angeles), while their tourism depends on the attractiveness of their beaches (which may be restricted in length and area), water quality etc. Their urban and tourism development may have detracted from their attractiveness. Tourism movement to, in and from them may be highly seasonal, causing congestion and accidents, and entailing the building of accommodation and other services for peak demand. Many once popular resorts have lost much of their past tourism. The urban coastal population is over 800 million, and is forecasted to reach one billion about the year 2000, about 16% of the world's population: over 6 million tons of litter reach the sea each year [Time Magazine June 1, 1992 — based on UNEP and World Resources Inc.].

The insufficient attention given up to now by Spanish academic researchers to quality in tourism, does not by any means invalidate the generalised conviction that the subject has a basic influence on the competitive future of Spanish tourism. Quality has become a key dimension of the tourist product and of tourist enterprise. For this reason a profile of the lines of research developed by Spanish experts on the subject has been undertaken in the article, in order to provide a retrospective overview. This effort remains limited, though we are beginning to see the creation of research centres which will, in the forseeable future, set the pace in this area of specialisation.