NBS to Use TSA for Tourism Statistics

• NBS to Use TSA for Tourism Statistics

The Nigerian Bureau of Statistics has said it will soon begin to use the Tourism Satellite Account framework to ensure a more robust and realistic aggregation of tourism statistics in the country.

The TSA framework, recommended by the World Tourism Organisation and adopted in 2015 by the NBS, links all tourism and travel statistics in the country with the national accounts framework before the nation’s Gross Domestic Product is calculated.

The Statistician-General of the Federation and Chief Executive Officer of NBS, Dr. Yemi Kale, was quoted to have told journalists during an interactive session that until recently, tourism data had been disaggregated and often fragmented.

“We have begun to build the structure to compile the Tourism Satellite Accounts,” he added.

According to him, the NBS has already established collaboration with such stakeholders as the Nigerian Tourism Development Corporation and the Nigeria Immigration Service to build a system of tourism statistics that feeds into the TSA.

He added that a broader platform would soon be established to function as a forum where other stakeholders could put forward their contributions towards the development of a robust TSA.

Kale, who was represented by the Technical Adviser to the Statistician-General, Mrs. Lola Talabi-Oni, noted that developing tourism had various far-reaching benefits ranging from job creation to increased revenue through taxes and foreign exchange, and improved local infrastructure.

He said it would directly impact on the transportation, accommodation and food services, and the arts and entertainment sectors.

He said though there were over 1,000 hotels in Nigeria, very few were predominantly used by inbound tourists.

“The NBS is in the process of designing a template, in collaboration with other supervisory agencies and associations to further capture the composition and main growth drivers within this subsector,” he said.