The Namibia Chamber of Commerce and Industry (NCCI) has urged the tourism industry to review its marketing strategy and start considering new markets in Africa, South America, Asia and the Middle East.
The country’s tourism sector, which mainly relies on Europe, especially Germany, as its largest source market for tourists, is likely to suffer huge losses after several countries banned travellers from visiting Southern Africa following the discovery of a new COVID-19 variant dubbed Omicron.
“The unwarranted action by developed countries also sends out a loud and clear message to Namibia’s hospitality and tourism sector, which is to actively search for new markets. They should market the beauty, splendor and unique fauna and flora of Namibia more aggressively in Africa and in countries in South America, Asia and the Middle East and the NCCI will always assist in this regard,†NCCI President Bisey Uirab said.
“Reactionary measures that have resulted in travel disruptions with resultant planned holiday cancellations has placed undue stress on the economies of countries in Southern Africa heavily dependent on tourism.â€
Uirab also called for closer collaboration among African countries going forward, to guide against over reliance on developed countries for tourism and business.
“The Chamber calls upon African leaders to consider this as a warning that there must be closer collaboration going forward. By doing so, rather than following the unjustified action by developed countries such as border closure, African countries will accelerate the creation of an enabling environment for increased trade and investment flows and become less reliant on developed countries for tourism and business,†he said.
“The Chamber calls for more collaboration and consultative engagement between the world’s nations, rich and poor in fighting this new variant, and indeed as a strategy to negate the broader impact of Covid-19 on the global economy. Such a strategy will avoid discriminatory measures against countries who after all are not responsible for the emergence of Covid-19.â€
According to the Ministry of Environment and Tourism and analysts, the travel bans and the discovery of the new variant, is likely to be a major blow to the local tourism industry, which had been gearing up for a bustling holiday season.
In October, the sector recorded strong annual increases in bed nights sold to tourists from German-speaking Europe (Germany, Austria, and Switzerland), South Africa, France, and the Benelux (Belgium, Netherlands, and Luxembourg) countries.
According to Bank of Namibia figures, the tourism sector registered a decline of 97.8% year-on-year, from March to December 2020, with the government projecting a negative to zero growth until well into 2022, with real recovery only possible when international tourism returns to pre COVID-19 levels.
