1. Introduction

In line with the Tourism Act of 2014, the Department of Tourism is embarking on a programme to implement a National Tourism Information and Monitoring System (NTIMS). The system will securely host comprehensive data on tourism businesses, products and services; and will provide the required intelligence on the footprint of tourism in South Africa for strategic and planning purposes.

2. Data collection for the NTIMS

The Department has capacitated 600 unemployed youth to collect the required tourism information to be hosted on the NTIMS. The data collectors will be placed at various municipalities across the country to collect data from tourism products, entities, and businesses.

3. Dates for data collection in various provinces

• Free State: 1 February – 15 March 2021;
• Northern Cape: 1 March – 15 April 2021;
• Gauteng and North West: 22 March – 01 October 2021;
• Limpopo and Mpumalanga: 19 April – 01 December 2021;
• Western Cape and KwaZulu-Natal: The Department is finalising the signing of contracts with the appointed service providers.

4. What information will be collected?

Data will be collected in all tourism subsectors, including accommodation, restaurants, conferencing, activities, attractions, travel agencies and transport services. The specific indicators to be collected include, among others:

• the name and form of the tourism business;
• the geographical area of operation;
• the nature of services, facilities or products that are provided by tourism businesses and services;
• particulars relating to the classification and grading of the tourism business;
• statistics and information of the services, facilities or products it offers; and
• information as to the extent it provides facilities which are accessible to people with disabilities, children and elderly.

How will the information be collected?

• The Department will use the existing entity list to schedule appointments for the data collectors to conduct interviews with tourism entities and businesses across the country.
• The data collectors will use mobile devices to collect the required information that will be stored on the Department’s system.
• The data collectors can be identified by their official identity cards bearing their name and ID number, and uniform bearing the Department of Tourism’s corporate identity.

Departmental contact persons for verification of data collectors or/and more information on the programme:

Mr Siviwe Bala
Tel: 012 444 6390
E-mail: sbala@tourism.gov.za

Mr Mkhululi Lose
Tel: 012 444 6368
E-mail: mlose@tourism.gov.za