South Africa’s lack of real-time consumer data and credible statistical data complicates any tourism trend analysis, according to a report published by the SA Tourism Review Committee. 

Chairperson Valli Moosa explained that the delay in tourist arrivals data from Home Affairs and Stats SA in 2014 made reliable measurement of the performance of the tourism economy in South Africa impossible. Stats after March 2015 have yet to be published, more than three months on. Moosa said Stats SA needed to be quicker in turning around statistics. 

Beside the delays in publishing the stats, their accuracy has also been questioned. “While the data has now finally been released, there are still concerns regarding its accuracy,” said Moosa, explaining that public- and private-sector stakeholders had generally expressed discontent with the tourism research and statistics that exists in the country at large as well as at SA Tourism. 

SA Tourism and NDT have also expressed concerns regarding the veracity of recent data. SA Tourism has indicated there are gaps in the data and possibly other serious problems such as the removal of transit tourists from the current data. This is contrary to the global definition of a tourist and previous data, which renders comparison difficult. SA Tourism is in the process of getting data from the International Air Transport Association to double-check identified trends against a more reliable source. 

The review committee has called for more industry involvement in identifying trends and research needs as well as in interpreting findings. Given the concerns over StatsSA data, SA Tourism will need to investigate others sources of data on tourist arrivals and industry performance to supplement and ‘triangulate’ StatsSA data.