Tourism Satellite Account (TSA) to be implemented in Namibia

The tourism sector has traditionally been a key employer and contributor to Namibia’s economy: The sector contributes around US$447.9 million, which represents 3.2 percent share of GDP and creates an estimated 41, 200 jobs representing 5.3 percent of total employment.

Survey findings by the UN in 2021 indicated negative impact of the COVID-19 shock to the sector: Tourism businesses, including restaurants, hotels, tour guides and others, suffered a 97% drop in demand and a 93% drop in revenue since the start of the pandemic. Furthermore, more than 50% of surveyed businesses report retrenchments and reduced wages since the start of the pandemic, and as many as 1 in 4 women in the tourism sector have lost their job. Whereas an estimated 60% of the surveyed tourism businesses now report that they are pessimistic about the future.

In efforts to build back better and forward, the Ministry of Ministry of Environment, Forestry and Tourism (MEFT), with the support of the United Nations will be implementing a Tourist Satellite Account (TSA), providing a benchmark for the country, moving forward towards resilience and economic diversification.

The TSA is a standard statistical framework and the main tool for the economic measurement of tourism. It provides information on the direct contributions of tourism consumption to a national economy including on GDP, employment, exports, and capital investment. The TSA requires data, which is also an output of the process. The last TSA for Namibia was the 5th edition in 2015.

The implementation of this TSA is anchored under Strategic Objective Number two, under activity “Revise and Strengthen Data and Tourism statistics” of the National Strategy on Sustainable Heritage Tourism Development and Employment Creation Opportunities at the Community Level. The Strategy was launched by the Ministry of Environment, Forestry and Tourism (MEFT) and the Ministry of Education, Arts and Culture (MEAC).

Making progress in the implementation of the Strategy, the leading technical Agency, United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA), undertook a Scoping Mission for Stakeholder on Namibia’s Tourism Statistics and the TSA. Consultations included with national counterparts comprising the National Statistics Agency (NSA); the Bank of Namibia (BON); the Ministry of Finance (MoF); the Namibia Revenue Agency (NamRA); the Ministry of Home Affairs, Immigration, Safety & Security (MHAISS); the Ministry of Labour, Industrial Relations and Employment Creation (MLIREC); Namibia Airports Company (NAC); Federation of Namibian Tourism Associations (FENATA) Hospitality Association of Namibia (HAN); the Emerging Tourism Enterprises Association (ETEA);  Namibia Tourism Board (NTB), the Namibia University of Science and Technology (NUST); the University of Namibia (UNAM); and International University of Management (IUM).

Next will be the project implementation plan inclusive of all stakeholders, comprising the National Technical Committee and UN entities including UNECA, UNWTO, UN Namibia (ILO, UNDP, UNESCO)

For additional information, please contact:

1. Mr. Sebulon Chicalu. Director, Ministry of Environment, Forestry and Tourism  (sebulon.chicalu@meft.gov.na)
2. Ms. Olayinka Bandele. Chief, Inclusive Industrialization, UNECA Sub-Regional Office for Southern Africa (olayinka.bandele@un.org)
3. Ms. Helvi Elago. National Programme Officer, UNESCO Namibia (h.elago@unesco.org)
4. Ms. Eunice Ajambo. Economist and Development Coordination Officer, UN Namibia (ajambo@un.org)