Abstract:
In Namibia
as in many countries, reliable and accurate
information regarding the economic impact of tourism has not been available. In
an attempt to overcome this problem, a set of preliminary tourism satellite
accounts for
Accommodation: Only private provision of
accommodation can be drawn from the National Accounts, though
Food and beverage service services: The basis of
restaurant output reported in the national accounts is the Tourism Establishment
Survey conducted in 1991. Output reported for subsequent years is based on
estimates of the growth of the industry (half the volume index used to estimate
the growth of the accommodation sector), rather than new survey figures; this
growth is anecdotally said to be consistently underestimated.
Transport/ passenger services/ road, rail: National
accounts data for both these categories acknowledged to be underestimated. The
calculation formula is based on output figures for the parastatal provider of
these services plus only 20 per cent for private production—the majority of
road passenger services are offered by private providers.
Transport/ transport equipment: Road and rail are
also based on the formula of parastatal production plus 20 per cent, and both
are also severely underestimated. Car rental is completely excluded from this
calculation by the national accounts, despite approximately 36 per cent of
interviewees in 1996 having rented vehicles during their stay in
Travel agencies, operators and guides: This category
is probably the most severely underestimated (once again estimated using
parastatal provision plus 20 per cent) because excludes the large and increasing
numbers of private providers of travel agency and tour operator services.
According to the 1996 visitor survey, 47 per cent of respondents at the major
international airport used a pre-paid package activity.
Cultural and recreational services: Problems associated with this product relate
particularly to 1991 and 1992—it is impossible to separate tourism from
non-tourism production for this product in these years. However, the
classification changed by 1996 meaning desegregation was possible.
Production data: Other tourism related industries.
There is potential for error as group of products have enormous total production
though only a small proportion of this is tourism production.
Expenditure data: Visitor Survey questions regarding
visitor expenditure distributions changed between 1991/2 and 1996, with the
addition of the category ‘entertainment’ in 1996 (included under ‘cultural
and recreation services here).
Employment and earnings data: Employment data are
only available for 1997. No data exists regarding employment or remuneration in
the handicraft industry. No compensation data was collected by the 1997 labor survey.
Tourism ratios: No tourism ratios for
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The Ministry of Environment and Tourism and our partner organization cannot ensure the reliability of the spatial and non-spatial data layers for any particular purposes. In some cases, original data has been compiled from various sources and the accuracy cannot be guaranteed. The Ministry of Environment and Tourism will not be held liable in any event for any consequences of using this data. Data sets may be updated without notification.