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Zimbabwe’s inaugural Tourism Satellite Account (TSA) is meant to improve the measurement of the performance of the tourism sector, Hon Barbra Rwodzi, the Deputy Minister of Environment, Climate, Tourism and Hospitality Industry has said.
She made the remarks during the launch of the Tourism Satellite Account at a glamorous event held in Harare today that was attended by various stakeholders in the sector.
“And let me begin by earnestly appreciating your presence at the celebration of this milestone of the development of the Zimbabwe Tourism Satellite Account, a key instrument meant to improve the measurement of the performance of the Tourism sector. As you may all know and appreciate, the Tourism Satellite Account is an internationally recognised tool that is able to holistically account for the performance of the tourism sector in a given economy.
“It is one of the anchor projects outlined in the National Development Strategy (NDS1), which the Ministry has to deliver on, as part of our results chain framework. I am therefore delighted on behalf of the Ministry to witness this great achievement,” Hon Rwodzi said.
She thanked the incredible men and women who contributed to the achievement of this great milestone, in particular, cooperating partners like the United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO), the World Bank Group through the International Finance Corporation, and the African Development Bank (AfDB).
The above-mentioned partners have sustained the tourism sector and made it possible to thrive in spite of challenges like the COVID-19 pandemic.
To achieve any results with ripple effects as will obtain from the Tourism Satelite Account, Hon Rwodzi said there is always a sterling committee behind the scenes running with the project through cooperation with multiple stakeholders.
The Technical Committee members comprise representatives from the Tourism Ministry, the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development, the Zimbabwe National Statistical Agency (ZIMSTAT), the Zimbabwe Tourism Authority (ZTA), the Department of Immigration Control, the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ), and the Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Management Authority.
The Zimbabwe Tourism Satellite Account is coming in at a time when the Tourism Sector is facing severe challenges due to the Covid-19 pandemic which has affected not just Zimbabwe alone but the globe as a whole.
With the advent of COVID-19, the country witnessed a decline in tourist arrivals from 2 294 259 in 2019 to 630,369 in 2020. The negative trend further continued in 2021 as arrivals suffered a further downfall of 40% to 375 799,
She envisages that the TSA will help us with an important benchmark to use in measuring the tourism impact during and after the Covid-19 era and make it easier to compare Zimbabwe’s performance with other countries that have long adopted the tool.
The deputy minister said there is need to sustain the system by undertaking periodic surveys such as the Visitor Exit Survey and the Domestic and Outbound Tourism Survey to build on the framework put in place.
Going forward, she said it is therefore imperative for stakeholders to embrace modern technologies in data collection to ensure the timeous availability of information to update the Tourism Satellite Account.
Further, the TSA Report has availed critical information on the value of the Tourism economy which should energise us to work hard in our pursuit of the sectoral target to reach a US$5 billion economy by 2025. The results presented indicate that as at 2018, the Tourism economy was estimated at US$1 964 592 880, hence our work is cut out as we need to achieve a two-fold growth target to achieve a US5Billion Tourism economy by 2025.
In essence, this technology will provide the international standard for a systematic summary of national economic activity from a functional perspective thereby allows for the harmonization and reconciliation of tourism statistics from an economic or National Accounts perspective.
This enables the generation of Tourism economic data such as Tourism Direct GDP that is comparable with other economic statistics.
“In addition, the TSA report also identified the consumption of domestic tourism statistics, and as the Government of Zimbabwe, we are cognizant of the low consumption of domestic tourism and we need to do more to champion increased internal tourism,
“Working together with the private sector and the Zimbabwe Tourism Authority we must redouble efforts to promote domestic tourism under our Zimbho Domestic Tourism Campaign in a manner that takes everyone on board and let me add to say ZimBho campaign has risen our numbers for domestic tourism and we will continue working hard on that front.”
Another key input from the TSA report is the glaring fact that most people are not using formal accommodation when they visit the country and the Deputy Minister urged the Zimbabwe Tourism Authority to intensify efforts to clamp down on all unlicensed tourism players countrywide so as to close the leakages.
She added that every Tourism business must contribute to the National Economic Accounts hence the chase and the clampdown.