The Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) is set to conduct a year-long Ghana 2024 Accommodation Unit Survey. This is to help boost the tourism, hotel and accommodation Sector.
This was made known at a stakeholders consultative meeting held on Thursday, October 10,2024 in Accra.
The stakeholders engagement was to provide a common platform or place to explain the objectives of the AUS, and seek the support and cooperation in the implementation of the survey.
The Ghana 2024 Accommodation Unit Survey(AUS) is designed to collect data from commercial accommodation units that provide short-stay accommodation to domestic and foreign guests.
This is the first of its kind that a sample survey with a longitudinal design that provides information about short-term commercial accommodation activity at national, regional and district levels is being conducted in the country.
The survey which is part of a series of surveys initiated by GSS on the tourism sector will commence on November 1st 2024 to October 2025.
Main Objective
The Main Objective of the Survey is to obtain a baseline data to measure the level of supply and demand for commercial accommodation facilities in Ghana.
Specific Objectives
The Survey will profile accommodation units in terms of the characteristics of products, facilities and rates and assess the supply of, and demand for commercial accommodation.
It will also measure employment and remuneration in the accommodation sub-sector and determine operating expenses, sales and revenue from accommodation units.
Scope of AUS
The survey will cover commercial accommodation units in all 261 districts and 16 administrative regions of the country that are mainly engaged in providing short-stay commercial accommodation including both licensed and unlicensed.
These are hotels, guest houses, budget hotels, hostels, home-stay, and apartments, and other accommodation from the list of 2024 Integrated Business Establishment Survey 1 (2024 IBES 1).
The AUS seeks to collect information on accommodation units’ revenue trends, capacity, occupancy, number of guests, number of guest nights, room prices, and other key performance indicators.
The survey is to also generate data to inform policy and as well boost the tourism, hotel and accommodation Sector.
Already, the GSS has noted that there are about 9,602, accommodation units across the 16 regions of Ghana.
However, the project is set to cover 1077, that is large-sized, medium-sized, small-sized and micro-sized.
Doing a presentation on the survey at the meeting, the 2024 Accommodation Unit Survey(AUS) Coordinator at the GSS, Dr Ebenezer Kojo Ocran urged all hoteliers to register their hotels or accommodation units to help boost the sector, noting that out of about 9602, over 50 percent of these facilities have not obtained license from the Ghana Tourism Authority.
Meanwhile, he noted that he results of the survey will be used to compile estimates of the Tourism Satellite Account (TSA), estimate the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and its components.
It will also analyze comparative business and industry performance, Generate a series of statistics to have reliable data on clients, e.g. Domestic guests, Total guests, Guest nights, Average length of stay, Occupancy rates, and Revenue.
General benefits of AUS
Touching on the general benefits of the survey, Dr Ebenezer Kojo Ocran said it will inform how the accommodation sub-sector is performing throughout the year and assist in identifying key trends in the tourism sector.
Also, he said it will help policy makers in their decision making, administration and promotion.
Specific benefits to Accommodation Units
Specifically, Dr Ebenezer Kojo Ocran said the survey will help identify occupancy trends and patterns, optimise pricing strategies, improve customer satisfaction and enhance facility management.
Also, he noted that it will inform marketing strategies, data-driven decision making, enhance revenue management, improve online accommodation reservation or bookings and as well improve operational efficiency.
Touching on who needs the AUS data, he mentioned the Government, saying it will aid in assessing the broad industry performance and associated interventions such as tax reliefs and credit facilities.
For Business owners/investors, he explained that the data will help them to understand the nature of their business and its particular dynamics.
Academically, he said the data will serve as a strong baseline for continued research to monitor and study trends.
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For his part, the President of Ghana Progressive Hotels Association, Dr Edward Ackah-Nyamike assured managers and owners of hotels and accommodation units that the Ghana 2024 accommodation Unit Survey is not to witch-hunt them or their facilities but rather help boost the entire sector.
Due to this, he has urged all managers, operators and owners to cooperate by giving information to the GSS staff who are assigned to the exercise.
Click on this link to view the meeting:
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