US, Sept. 2 -- Tourism loves statistics. Visitor arrivals are up 8%. Hotel occupancy has increased. Travelers are staying longer. Spending has reached a new record. Customer satisfaction is at 92%.

Numbers appear precise, authoritative, and reassuring.

But what if the numbers are answering the wrong question? Many tourism professionals remember their university statistics courses with less-than-fond memories. Statistics often seemed to turn simple questions into complicated formulas and obvious conclusions into pages of mathematical analysis.

Yet statistics are indispensable to modern tourism.

Used correctly, they help destinations discover hidden problems, identify emerging trends, understand visitors, allocate resources, and make be...