This collection covers national tourism, in other words tourism by residents of a country to destinations in the country of residence (domestic tourism) or abroad (outbound tourism).

Alternatively, this part of tourism statistics is sometimes referred to as "the demand side".

Data are collected by the competent national authorities of the Member States (generally the national statistical institute) and are compiled according to harmonised concepts and definitions and recommended methodological guidelines, before transmission to Eurostat. Most of the time, data on domestic and outbound trips (where "outbound tourism" means residents of a country travelling to another country) is collected via sample surveys. However, in a few cases the data relating to outbound flows are compiled from border surveys. Surveys are generally conducted on a monthly or quarterly basis.

The concepts and definitions used in the collection of data are backed by the specifications described in the Methodological manual for tourism statistics .

The information on tourism demand concerns trips (for the population aged 15 years and over) of which the main purpose is holidays or business and which involve at least one or more consecutive nights spent away from the usual place of residence. Member States are transmitting microdata to Eurostat, which enables a more detailed analysis of the data, as well as better use of partner data.