Tourism Business Council of South Africa figures exceeded expected performance on the end of 2012, reaching 104.6, against a score of 100 that is considered normal.
This is up at the previous results of 101.1 and is a limiteless improvement at the index of 87.3 scored on the end of the former year.
Speaking on the release of the report, board chairman of the Tourism Business Council of South Africa, Mavuso Msimang, said the newest index results provided relief for a sector that was through two, very tough years.
“This is the second one consecutive quarter that TBI has recorded performance levels above the norm and is a transparent indication of the level to which business is recovering from the recessionary impacts and way over supply it suffered post the 2010 Soccer World Cup.”
The sector’s resilience and ongoing long-term potential shows through within the business and investor confidence for capacity and employment increases.
This result must also be viewed within the context of overall reduced business confidence reported within the fourth quarter reports from both SACCI Business Confidence Index and the RMB/BER Business Confidence Index which dipped slightly in quarter four of 2012.
However, regardless of the return to regular trading levels and the positive outlook, quite a few factors remain a priority.
“Global economic uncertainty and ongoing recession risk, coupled with the negative profiling of South Africa internationally through labour and community unrest weighs heavily as a constraint for the sphere.
Input cost increases from rates, electricity and fuel costs were also cited as negative factors affecting business performance,” explained Gillian Saunders, Grant Thornton’s head of advisory services.
Wiza Nyondo FNB head of tourism said: “The results show that the market has begun to recognise South Africa as a widespread destination. Although we’ve seen some instability, we still believe in South Africa’s diverse offering of products and services where industry professionals can partner to assist transform our country.”
The majority of the accommodation sector respondents expect domestic business markets to provide one of the best potential growth for 2013, followed by foreign leisure after which domestic leisure.
Other tourism businesses expect growth to come back from the foreign leisure markets, followed by domestic markets. Taken overall it can appear that the industry feels that it’s back to ‘business as usual’, or perhaps slightly better than usual.
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