Strengthening Tourism Statistics Systems | SDGs 8, 15, 17

Tourism is increasingly being recognized as a transformative socio-economic sector that can contribute substantially to the diversification of national economies and the improvement of livelihoods in Africa. In 2019, Africa recorded 71 million international tourist arrivals which represented 5% of the global share that does not reflect the huge potential of the tourism and travel industry of the continent.

Furthermore, as a result of the pandemic, the tourism sector is slowly picking up after a major setback and it is therefore more than ever essential to provide reliable tourism statistics and data to guide policy decisions in the short, medium and long terms.

A common and robust set of statistics data is critical for governments and stakeholders to design, implement and monitor effective sustainable tourism policies and adequate strategies. This only can be done properly when the relevant information is available, i.e. there is a need to better measure, plan and manage which will further help to quantify the economic contribution of tourism to national economies. UNWTO has developed together with the UN In the area of tourism two UN international statistical standards have been developed and adopted by the UN that guide countries for the elaboration of tourism statistics:

• International Recommendations for Tourism Statistics 2008: for measuring physical and monetary flows of tourism
• Tourism Satellite Account (TSA): Recommended Methodological Framework 2008: for measuring tourism as an economic sector.

MILESTONES:

The Impact of COVID-19 on Tourism – Trying to make sense of so much or so little data - African Insights, Thursday, 30 April 2020.

Market Intelligence Masterclass for Africa: Big Data for Planning and Recovery - An Introduction in collaboration with IFC and the Digital Tourism Think Tank (virtual workshop), 06 July 2020

Workshop on Tourism Statistics for African Member States, 6 & 7 July 2021