About

Summary

Acorn were contracted to develop the statistics, research and market intelligence element of a new National Tourism Strategy and Master Plan for Botswana, executed by the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO).

Having worked in Botswana assisting the Department of Tourism with the development of research and statistics over the previous 20 years, Acorn were in a strong position to assess where the country was at in terms of its system of tourism statistics, and what new developments and investments would be required to provide the sector with a more useful range of data that would be more up-to-date and insightful.

The overall aim was to make recommendations to improve research and statistics in Botswana over the 10-year period of the Master Plan, to make the country one of the leading nations in Africa monitoring their tourism sector and developing a Tourism Satellite Account.

Our Approach

The approach to this work was to consult closely with the Research and Statistics Department in the Department of Tourism, as well as with the other key stakeholders: Statistics Botswana, Immigration Department, the Central Bank of Botswana, and the Department of Wildlife and National Parks.

Analysis was undertaken on the following key areas of the Botswana system of tourism statistics: inbound visitor arrivals, inbound visitor surveys, domestic and outbound tourism, accommodation statistics, visits to national parks, museums and other attractions, and the supply of tourism enterprises.

Botswana already operates a tourism statistics database developed by Acorn T-Stats, however this was created 10 years previously, so a review of its functionality and contents was required, as well as the overlap with another database utilised by the Licencing Unit within the Department of Tourism that also processed some tourism statistics.

Finally, the potential for updating the Botswana Tourism Satellite Account (TSA) was made based on the existing availability of data. 

Outcome

The key outcomes of the study were:

• Reconvening of the Tourism Sector Statistics Committee to drive the recommendations forward.
• Reallocation of the responsibilities of data collection, compilation and dissemination amongst the various stakeholders.
• Reform the inbound visitor arrivals data collection system.
• Develop an online tourism data dashboard for immediate dissemination of tourism statistics.
• Combine the two existing tourism statistics databases operated by the Department of Tourism.
• Provide additional training and technical assistance to deliver the recommendations.