About

Summary

This project was commissioned by Statistics South Africa to evaluate the processes and procedures relating to tourism statistics for South Africa, in particular the various demand and supply surveys required for the compilation of a Tourism Satellite Account (TSA) and to advise on the way forward for the development of a first TSA for South Africa.  The  transfer of skills to relevant Statistics South Africa personnel and the delivery of a keynote presentation to the entire organisation were also important elements of the project.

Our Approach

The study was undertaken in two phases.  The first phase, carried out from our Acorn offices, evaluated all the existing surveys, including the data collection instruments, sample sizes and analysis, as well as other data collection such as immigration databases to measure the number of inbound visitors to the country.

This was followed up by a visit to the Statistics South Africa offices in Pretoria to hold consultations with staff and to deliver training and a one-day tourism workshop on TSAs.

Outcome

A multi-organisation working group was required for the development of a TSA due to it being dependent on data from a number of different sources.  Whilst this had been successfully achieved in the form of a TSA Committee, it was recommended that a higher-level committee be formed, so that recommendations from the Committee could be put into practice without undue delay.

The immigration authorities were not collecting country of residence and purpose of visit information from foreign arrivals who did not require visas.  The absence of this data was having a serious impact on the measurement of inbound tourist arrivals in the country.

The definition of “usual environment” for inbound visitors to South Africa needed to be addressed, as a traveller only becomes a visitor when they travel outside their “usual environment”.  Until a definition for the usual environment is adopted it would be difficult to collect day visitor figures for inbound, outbound or domestic tourism.