FNB TBCSA Tourism Business Index!

With 2011 in full-swing, we wave good-bye to 2010 and all the excitement it held for South Africa and its economy.

With this taken into consideration the Tourism Business Council of South Africa (TBCSA) the official umbrella organisation for the Travel and Tourism private sector in South Africa together with First National Bank (FNB) has put together the first edition of the TBCSA FNB Tourism Business Index (TBI). TBI is an initiative of the TBCSA sponsored by FNB and compiled by Grant Thornton Strategic Services (GTSS).

 The inaugural report is a milestone for the South African Travel and Tourism industry according to

Mmatšatši Marobe, CEO of the TBCSA. The index will update the business community to ensure that they are well informed on the current and potential future performances of business operations in this sector. In the long-term, it will also contribute to positioning the industry as an important component of the South African economy.

 Gillian Saunders, Principal Consultant for GTSS states that the index is based on the results of a survey conducted in the last quarter of 2010. Since the launch of the project in May last year, the TBI was in piloting phase. During this time the index was adjusted and extended with the aim of increasing the sample of respondents, particularly in certain key sectors and sub-sectors, Saunders explains.

 The overall tourism index includes accommodation respondents and responses from other subsectors such as: Airlines, tour operators and coach operators etc.

 Responses from the airlines, scheduled coach operators and car rental companies were still too few to allow for the development of a tourism transport sub-index; however the intention is to expand the number of responses within this sector so that a meaningful tourism transport sub-index can be developed in the future.

 Among other key insights, the index reveals that in the last quarter of 2010, the industry’s overall performance was weak when compared to performance levels in the preceding two quarters, a result which was largely expected – due to the world cup figures. The index also highlights variations in the performance levels of the different sub-sectors, and sheds light on business expectations relating to factors such as employment levels and projected business growth capacity.

 Pieter de Bruin – Head of Tourism at FNB Commercial - comments that the TBI is another initiative illustrating how FNB helps the Tourism Industry become World Class. “At FNB we strive to provide our clients world class service and do we recognize that by facilitating relationships in the industry and by having the right information, it enables us to live up to this challenge.”

 To learn more about the index please go to TBCSA’s website: