Gaps in data analysis and the tendency to measure tourism success purely by arrival numbers are holding many Southern and East African governments back from fully realising the economic value of the sector.
While the governments of Kenya, Tanzania and South Africa have fairly robust systems for gathering data from tourists, emphasis is skewed towards growing arrival volumes, as pointed out by tourism strategist and The Journey MD Mike Fabricius.
“It seems that politicians still compete on numbers but the emphasis shouldn’t be on this. It should be on the value that each tourist provides. The money that comes into the country through tourism is where job creation happens and where all the positive effects of tourism start,” said Fabricius.
“You may have two countries that are each attracting the same volumes of tourists but one is earning 40% less revenue than the other. The economic value is far less and yet the measure of ‘success’ is presented similarly.”
Independent tourism and hospitality consultant Gillian Saunders said comprehensive and regular surveys at departure points – evaluating tourist spend, length of stay and reasons for travel – are lacking.
“Most African countries, with some exceptions, aren’t doing that. South Africa does it really well by running a year-round survey of departing passengers at airports every month. Kenya runs a survey and Rwanda has quite comprehensive sampling. Others may only run a survey for two weeks in a year and then base all their extrapolations on that,” said Saunders.
Countries with regular data collection initiatives have been able to focus their marketing efforts on high-value markets, she added.
“Those who are doing it well have developed an understanding of higher-value, lower-volume tourists and marketing to them. But there is still a tendency to brag publicly about the arrival figures.”
Saunders cautioned against completely discounting arrival numbers, citing Rwanda as an interesting case study.
“Rwanda’s recent annual reports only talk about the value. Arrival numbers can’t be discounted entirely because, if numbers are going down, you need to understand the reasons for the declines. So it’s important to track both.”
Tourism statistics and analysis have previously been relegated to smaller departments in tourism organisations but the tide is turning, said Fabricius.
“People are realising that the methodology of doing these surveys and getting robust results is vital, especially when African countries speak so often about how tourism has the potential to be an absolute economic powerhouse and job creator.”
Need for stronger destination management
In light of tourism over-concentration in areas such as the Serengeti, the Maasai Mara, Cape Town and the Kruger National Park, Saunders said the next priority should be proper tourism management.
“In Africa, we’re far from actual over-tourism but inappropriate policies and weak enforcement of good policies allow overcrowding as seen in the Serengeti recently. And many Capetonians are starting to talk a bit like the Venetians and Barcelonians about having too many tourists.”
She believes governments should develop stronger tourism dispersal strategies.
“In South Africa and most other countries in the region, there are still many spectacular and under-explored areas, with decent infrastructure, where we can certainly disperse our tourists. Destinations like Cape Town need a proper dispersal strategy to guard against the dangers of areas such as The V&A Waterfront getting clogged up with tourists, especially during the peak season,” said Saunders.
