The GMP Travel Dataset: A Global Source on Transnational Human Mobility

• In Event: 4366 - Section on Global and Transnational Sociology Refereed Roundtables (1 hour)
  In Refereed Roundtable 60min: 4. Citizenship and Migration

Abstract

We create a dataset of country-to-country cross-border mobility of persons by integrating planet-scale data on tourism (i.e., cross-border travels that include at least an overnight stay) from yearly UN World Tourism Organization statistics and air passenger traffic from Sabre. The joint use of these two sources allows us to (a) test for their reliability by comparing them, and (b) correct for the weaknesses of both by combining them. The two sources are adjusted and merged following simple procedures. The resulting GMP travel dataset, which covers the years 2011 to 2016 and more than 15 billion estimated trips in total, proves to be a systematic source on transnational human mobility worldwide that is more comprehensive than all comparable sources. In this paper, we illustrate the data characteristics and transformations adopted in creating the GMP travel dataset. Remaining limitations are discussed.

Authors

• Emanuel Deutschmann, European University Institute

• Ettore Recchi, European University Institute and Sciences Po Paris