Statistics South Africa has been unable to publish arrival stats beyond March 2014 because it is awaiting data from the Department of Home Affairs.

Susanna Umbombo Jaswa, who heads up the tourism and migration statistics at Statistics SA, told Tourism Update that the body regretted not being able to publish the stats but that it needed complete data before it could complete its analysis and publish its report.

Umbombo Jaswa said Statistics SA had received data collated at some of South Africa’s ports of entry and hoped to receive the outstanding data this week. The body is hoping to publish stats for the full year soon after this data is received.

SATSA CEO, David Frost, described the lack of arrival stats as a travesty. He added that the lack of stats came at a time when Home Affairs was putting in place “draconian regulation”. Frost was referring to new regulations that require people travelling to SA on a visa to make visa application in person, sometimes travelling significant distances at considerable cost to do so.

According to Frost, data from SATSA’s members shows that the new regulations have had a significant negative impact on tourism. “It would be incredibly useful if this was able to be correlated with the national arrival stats,” he said, adding that it was offensive that there was no communication with industry about the delay or the causes of the delay.

Frost emphasised that government needed to do the job it was paid to do. “[The trade] pays taxes – they must do their job,” he said.

Frost also pointed out that the industry had been questioning the accuracy of the arrival stats for a few years. For example, he said, people transiting through South Africa were included in the tourism arrivals. Frost said the industry had never got a proper answer on this issue. “We deal with SA Tourism, they then speak to the National Department of Tourism, the National Department speak to Stats SA,” he said. “We’ve never got a satisfactory answer or a meeting.”

At the time of publication, Department of Home Affairs had not answered questions on the cause of the delay in handing over the data or when the complete data would be made available to Statistics SA.