Staff Reporter

Windhoek, Aug. 23 — The Namibia Tourism Satellite Account (TSA) capacity-building training series came to a successful conclusion on August 18th with a breakfast meeting that marked the end of the fourth training workshop. The workshop, which commenced on August 14th, was held at Arebbusch Hotel in Windhoek, Namibia.

Running from August 14th to 18th, 2023, the fourth TSA Capacity Building Workshop represented the culmination of a series of capacity-building workshops jointly organized by the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA), the Namibia United Nations Country Team, and the Ministry of Environment, Forestry, and Tourism (MEFT) of Namibia. The collaborative effort aimed to bolster tourism data collection and reporting systems within the country.

The training workshops had a focused objective of equipping members of the National TSA Steering Committee. Comprising representatives from vital institutions such as government ministries, the national statistical office, the national planning commission, the national bank, Namibia Tourism Board, the private sector, and academia, these workshops aimed to provide essential skills to generate reliable, timely, and high-quality tourism statistics.

The fourth and final Capacity Building Workshop engaged 35 National TSA Committee members in intensive training. The focus was on imparting the necessary skills for accurately calculating the direct contribution of the tourism sector to the Namibian economy through the construction of the Satellite Account for the sector using the UNWTO TSA methodology. Building upon the achievements of preceding workshops, the training progressed from preliminary compilations of Tables 1 to 6 to the completion of preliminary compilations of Tables 7 to 10.

To culminate the training process, a breakfast meeting took place on August 18th. During this meeting, champions identified from the TSA Committee presented the draft compilations of the 10 TSA Tables to the principal figures of the institutions constituting the National TSA Committee, as well as the national quality controllers.

Speaking at the breakfast meeting, the Executive Director for MEFT, represented by Mr. Boas Erkie – Director for Planning, emphasized the challenges faced in developing and promoting the tourism sector due to the absence of accurate and reliable tourism data. The complexity of reconciling supply and demand tables has made measuring the sector’s GDP contribution a challenge. The partnership with ECA under the TSA Project was commended for enhancing comprehension of the tourism industry’s dynamics and for informing policy, program, and strategy formulation for sector development.

The Statistician-General underscored the significance of the TSA as a robust analytical framework that enhances understanding of tourism’s economic impact in Namibia. He applauded the TSA project for imparting skills and knowledge for compiling the national TSA. Acknowledging ECA’s technical support, he expressed gratitude to all stakeholders for their collaborative spirit throughout the capacity-building process that began with the project’s launch on May 19, 2022. He expressed optimism that the “skills and experience gained during this time will be sustained to continue updating and maintaining the account as a country.”

Mr. Sebulon Chicalu, the Director for Tourism and Gaming in the Ministry of Environment, Forestry, and Tourism, provided an overview of the TSA Project for Namibia. He highlighted the sector’s challenge due to the lack of quality statistics and appreciated ECA’s commitment to providing technical and advisory support. This support laid a fundamental groundwork for quality data and accurate sectoral accounting.

The presentations on the various draft TSA Tables showcased the preliminary findings from the capacity-building workshops. This marked a pivotal step towards compiling the national TSA. The event enabled stakeholders to contribute by scrutinizing the preliminary data tables for accuracy, redundancy, consistency, and adherence to the national Data Quality Assurance Framework.