Local tourists making a significant impact

During February 2022, 55.0% of the visitors at local establishments were Namibian, according to a Simonis Storm report.

The number of Namibian citizens visiting nationwide establishments as a percentage of total visitors was recorded at 30.7% in February 2019 and 32.3% in February 2020. This share more than doubled to 68.1% in February 2021, SS pointed out.

Overall, a national occupancy rate of 22.5% was recorded in February 2022, compared to 18.5% in January 2022.

Firstly, the share of foreign visitors has increased as global travel restrictions have eased and local lockdown related protocols have been relaxed. Secondly, it could be indicative of specials targeted at locals coming to an end and with local incomes under pressure, it is possible for the share of Namibian visitors at establishments to converge back to pre-pandemic levels.

Majority of the foreign tourists who visited local establishments during February 2022 travelled from Germany, Austria and Switzerland combined (24.4%), South Africa (7.4%), France (1.9%), Benelux (1.8%), the UK and Ireland (1.2%), Asia (1.3%), the US and Canada (0.7%), other SADC (0.2%) and Middle East (0.1%) amongst other.

Hotels with more than 30 rooms posted the highest occupancy rate of 40.4% in February 2022, followed by hotel pension (32.5%), bed and ­breakfasts (27.5%), guest farms (23.0%) and tented camps (18.6%), SS pointed out.

Regarding purpose of travel into Namibia, 88.4% came for leisure, 4.4% for business and 7.3% for conferences, SS said.

Outlook

Foreign arrivals at Hosea Kutako International Airport (HKIA) increased by 134.5% year-on-year and 2.6% month-on-month, while regional arrivals increased by 179.1% year-on-year in February 2022.

The new Covid-19 protocols imposed, coupled with the announced resumption of the Qatar Airways flights to Windhoek, are expected boost Namibia’s tourism sector.

Tourism, a key sector that contributes significantly to Namibia’s gross domestic product, (GDP), contracted by 31.2% in 2020, following a 1.5% positive growth in 2019. The 2021 figures are yet to be released.

“We remain positive on seeing an increased number of foreign arrivals given that fully vaccinated individuals may enter Namibia’s borders without a negative PCR test certificate,” SS pointed out.

Namibia and Tanzania are the only Southern African Development Community (SADC) member states who allow fully vaccinated foreigners to enter their countries without a PCR test.

Qatar Airways will resume its service to the Namibian capital, Windhoek from 25 June 2022 as part of its largest ever African schedule. With more than 200 weekly flights to 31 gateways across Africa following this launch, the Windhoek route will offer seamless connectivity for passengers to almost 150 destinations in the airline’s extensive global network, including gateways in Europe, such as Germany, France, Spain, the UK and India.

Moreover, Fly Namibia now offers six flights per week between Cape Town and Windhoek, while Eurowings continue to fly between Frankfurt and Windhoek twice a week, SS added.

Risk

One crucial downside risk remains unvaccinated staff members at nationwide hospitality establishments, as foreigners more frequently enquire on the vaccination status of front office staff. It becomes more crucial that client facing staff such as game drivers, hiking guides and waiters be fully vaccinated to provide foreigners with peace of mind when visiting hospitality establishments across Namibia. Currently, only 14.9% of the Namibian population is fully vaccinated, SS pointed out.

Marketing Namibia as a country with greater ease of access of vaccinated travellers, sparse population density and life being close to normal or pre-pandemic will go a long way in attracting additional travellers.

This might be a challenging task for the tourism sector regulator as the Ministry of Environment, Tourism and Forestry continue to see a lower budget allocation. Marketing services and activities will therefore have to be done by private sector industry players, SS said.– [email protected]