S.Africa's Q3 Tourism Business Index bounces back

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The 2013 third quarter results of the Tourism Business Council of SA (TBCSA) FNB Tourism Business Index (TBI) were better than expected‚ reaching a high of 116.1 The 2013 third quarter results of the Tourism Business Council of SA (TBCSA) FNB Tourism Business Index (TBI) were better than expected‚ reaching a high of 116.1

The 2013 third quarter results of the Tourism Business Council of SA (TBCSA) FNB Tourism Business Index (TBI) were better than expected‚ reaching a high of 116.1 — its highest performance since the survey began in late 2010.

This compared to an expected index of 97.0.

The Tourism Business Index is compiled quarterly by Grant Thornton for the TBCSA and its partner First National Bank (FNB).

“It’s really good to see that improved performance has increased confidence in the overall expectation for the last quarter of the year which‚ at 110‚8 confirms the industry is feeling upbeat and expects operations to continue on a steady normal trend‚” said Grant Thornton global leader of hospitality and tourism Gillian Saunders.

The survey splits into two subindices: accommodation and other tourism businesses (tour and coach operators‚ vehicle rental‚ airlines‚ travel agents‚ retail outlets‚ forex traders‚ conference venues and attractions). Accommodation achieved an index of 110.8 and expects performance for Q4 at the similar level of 110.0.

Other tourism businesses reached a high of 120.1 compared with the expected 98.1. This was achieved largely by very positive performances among respondents in car hire‚ airline‚ conference centres‚ and activities & attractions. Not surprisingly‚ Other tourism businesses are confident that Q4 performance will be better than normal at 111.4.

32% of respondents in the accommodation sector put Q3’s good business performance down to strong domestic business demand while 45% of respondents in the other tourism sector cited the weak exchange rate‚ up by 2 percentage points in the last edition.

Some 51% of the other tourism sector expect the weak exchange rate to have a positive impact on business performance in Q4 2013‚ while only 30% of the businesses in the accommodation sector expect this.

This result‚ when compared to other business confidence indices‚ shows that tourism businesses are bucking generally negative business confidence. Both the SACCI Business Confidence Index and the RMB/BER Business Confidence Index‚ showed a decline in their last reporting periods.

“Even though the methodologies are different‚ it would appear that there is a general downward tendency in business performance which is not indicated by the TBI‚” explained Saunders


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