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PROVIDING a snapshot of the travel and
tourism industry’s contribution to the SA economy, the new Tourism Business
Index will help raise the profile of the industry and be available to all
tourism stakeholders.

Launched at Indaba, the Index compiled in
conjunction with Grant Thornton, First National Bank and the TBCSA will produce
economic data on the tourism sector to give government and the sector a clearer
picture of such factors as employment, constraints, demand, capacity usage and
revenue and pricing issues.

“We need to be organised if anyone is going
to take us seriously,” said TBCSA ceo Mmatšatši Marobe.

Some 140 tourism providers in accommodation,
transport and other sectors will participate in a simple web-based survey to
collect the data initially.

The survey will elicit information on the
current performance as well as the expected performance of the tourism
industry. The index will be published quarterly and the data will therefore
reflect the past three months (current performance) and the next three months
(expected performance).

“The index reports will include qualitative
answers to a series of questions as well as quantitative data on key capacity
provision and utilisation levels, pricing, employment levels and future booking
levels. The methodology of the TBI will also conform to the Organisation for
Economic Development and Cooperation’s (OECD) standards and guidelines for
business tendency surveys,” says Mmatšatši.

The TBI will cover the following areas:

· Domestic and inbound tourism industry

· National level indicators

· Sub-indices for accommodation, transport and other tourism indicators

Future additions to the index could include:

· Other industry sectors (attractions, activities, restaurants, retail)

· Outbound tourism

· Provincial indicators

The TBI will also include one more detailed
survey per year that will focus on a specific topical area such as
sustainability or transformation.