Tourism Statistics - Government of Botswana

1. INTRODUCTION
1.1 General Background for Botswana
Tourism is seen as an important sector in the economy of Botswana providing jobs, local incomes
and making contributions to Government revenues. In recognition of this importance though
lacking any objective measurement of it, the Government of Botswana decided to strengthen the
process of collecting tourism statistics, and embarked upon measures to analyse the economic
contribution of tourism with a view to underpinning a series of forthcoming strategies and policies
for the development of tourism in the country.
Central to this initiative has been the Research and Statistics Unit (RSU) of the Department of
Tourism (DOT). The RSU, as part of a UNDP/UNWTO project, has been strengthening the
process of all the tourism statistics in Botswana including arrival statistics, accommodation
statistics, statistics on visitors to the National Parks, sample surveys of visitors, and other surveys
concerned with trying to improve the Government‟s understanding of the tourism industry.
As a follow-on to the improvements in the tourism statistical processes, the DOT has taken the
step of putting together this „Experimental Tourism Satellite Account‟, following the methodology
recommended by the UNWTO and endorsed by the UN Statistical Commission, the Organisation
for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and the European Commission through
Eurostat. The DOT has been assisted in this endeavour by a Reference Group within Botswana
that has included the Central Statistics Office (CSO), the Bank of Botswana (BOB), and the
University of Botswana (UOB). Many other organisations within Botswana also contributed to the
work, including the private sector. The efforts of so many organisations have been much
appreciated by the DOT.
1.2 General Background on Tourism Satellite Accounts
Virtually all countries throughout the world have National Accounts in which the main economic
aggregates have been measured/ estimated, such as, for example, Gross Domestic Product
(GDP), value-added by different industries, intermediate consumption by different industries etc.
However, such aggregation has not been possible for tourism within the National Accounts,
although it is often done for hotels and restaurants, a key part of the tourism industries, because
tourism is primarily a demand side phenomenon, that is determined by the expenditure associated
to those identified as visitors whereas Value Added and GDP are measurements associated with
productive activities. The concept of Tourism Satellite Accounts (TSA) was put forward to remedy
this lack of economic data on tourism. In a TSA, demand/ consumption of tourism, a standard
measurement of visitor expenditure, is identified, associated to the industries that serve them, and
the value-added arising from that expenditure for the different industries that serve visitors can
then be compiled and added together to establish tourism value added.
The methodology for the TSA is set out in the UNWTO Manual known as TSA: RMF 2001 (RMF =
Recommended Methodological Framework). Two key tenets of this methodology are, firstly, that a
uniform methodology allows valid comparisons, enabling the tourism value-added to be compared
with the value-added in other industries and also allowing comparisons with other countries to be
made on a like-for-like basis. Secondly, a key tenet is that the information on demand by visitors
(that can encompass both tourism products and non tourism products) is reconciled with the
information on supply of these goods and services in the economy.
In the course of this exercise the DOT has attempted to follow the general guidelines set out in the
TSA: RMF, a Manual prepared under the auspices of the UNWTO which has given a forwardlooking
guide for countries to follow in these endeavours.
8