Namibia Wildlife Resorts (NWR) says it is excited by a proposed partnership with Qatar, which presents business and growth opportunities for the hospitality group.
This was after Qatar in June expressed interest to partner with the state-owned entity in the hospitality sector following President Hage Geingob’s visit to the Arab country.
“Smart partnership is very important in business. Our strategy has always been adding value and acquiring new business markets. In May 2022, NWR presented a list of investment opportunities at the World Economic Forum, Davos, Switzerland. Capital injections will always make business sense,” NWR Managing Director Dr Mathias Ngwangwama told The Brief.
He added that the hospitality group was keen to expand its business to other areas and also venture into other income-generating projects.
“The thought of expansion has always been there. Not only will it allow us to tap into untouched markets, but it will also give our clients a wide range of choices. If funds and commitment are there, why not? We launched new product offerings, which includes packages where NWR takes you to your desired destination as a group, as well as group packages for runner’s clubs. We also had to see how we could capitalise on virtual tourism to increase tourist arrivals. For example, we installed a water hole camera, and we played it on YouTube via livestream so that viewers could experience from their homes what we offer,” said the NWR boss.
Ngwangwama indicated that the government-owned entity was still to recover from the negative effects of Covid-19 and its current performance was showing signs of returning to a pre-pandemic financial position.
“We are obviously on a rebuilding course. It will take some time before we see changes in our books, but at the moment, we are seeing some positive trends that we hope will transfer positively in our books soon. There are few companies in the tourism and aviation industries, if at all, that are profitable amidst Covid-19. NWR recorded a historic profit of N$22 million in 2019. We tabled our 2021 Annual Financial Statements at the AGM on 17 May 2021. Despite 2021 being another difficult year, we produced remarkably improved performance, where bottom-line (loss) improved by 44% – reducing the loss from N$174 million in 2020 to N$97 million in 2021,” he said.
Recent statistics from the Hospitality Association of Namibia show a marked recovery in the sector, with local tourism facilities having recorded a national occupancy rate of 51% during July 2022, the highest since December 2019.
However, the proportion of Namibian guests at local hospitality establishments continues to decline as more foreigners visit, decreasing from 34% in June 2022 to 17.9% in July 2022.
