NSA defends data collection methodology
The Namibia Statistics Agency (NSA) has defended its methodology of collecting data for national accounts, following criticism that the tourism industry’s contribution to the economy is underestimated.Hotels and restaurants are used as a proxy for tourism in the national accounts.
According to Simonis Storm, tourism is more than hotels and restaurants as there are tour operators, hunting guides, air charters, car rentals, travel agents and national parks or conservancy areas. Without adequate data on local tourism activities, the true contribution cannot be measured. “Hence, we would argue for a change in the way that data is being collected so that tourism – like many other industries in the Namibian economy – can be better reflected in the National Accounts,” the report reads.
Responding to the criticism, NSA said: “We acknowledge, that based on the classification of economic activities stated above, there is no sector such as tourism, however, to capture activities that cut across various sectors, it is recommended that we compile satellite account, of which such an account for tourism activities is called the Tourism Satellite Account (TSA).”
The NSA, in conjunction with the Ministry of Environment, Forestry and Tourism is currently compiling the Tourism Satellite Account (TSA), which will address issues that are cross-cutting between industries related to the activities of tourism. The TSA follows the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) guidelines which are harmonized with the SNA 2008 guidelines, thus ensuring consistency between the two frameworks.
“The issue is not about changing the way we are currently compiling the national accounts, because it is not primarily aimed at measuring tourism, however, the compilation under the TSA will provide an accurate estimate of the share of tourism in the economy. The TSA is compiled every third year, in between updates are done based on the national account’s performance of the identified sectors assumed to be related to tourist activities,” NSA [email protected]