Namibia is targeting to grow its share of the Chinese tourism market, with the Namibia Tourism Board (NTB) having recently held three roadshows as part of the country’s efforts.
The China roadshows themed ‘Space and Time’, were successfully staged in Beijing, Shenzhen and Shanghai and drew more than 300 tourism industry and media representatives from across the top-tier cities.
“With the global tourism industry now rapidly recovering, the momentum is even stronger for China’s outbound tourism market. Through the 2023 roadshow, the Namibia Tourism Board hopes to re-ignite the passion of Chinese tourists heading to Namibia, further promote the tourism proposition of Namibia’s natural and wild luxury, drive the development of more family tours, in-depth tours and high-end customised tourism products in Namibia, and strengthen the partnership relations between the Namibian and Chinese tourism industry,” the tourism marketing body said.
“By holding roadshows in top-tier cities across China, the Namibia Tourism Board and its partner organisations seek to strengthen communication and cooperation, assist the industry to develop comprehensive travel packages and promote Namibia tourism together with the press, we-media operators and travel KOLs. The board has full confidence that more and more Chinese tourists will come to Namibia to personally explore and experience the country.”
The NTB said its marketing over the past years in attracting tourists from the lucrative market, had drawn some positive feedback.
“As an important source of international tourists, China has always been a priority market for the Namibia Tourism Board. Even during the three-year pandemic, NTB China was determined to stage a number of online activities for the public and the industry, all of which received positive feedback,” the NTB said.
Namibia has over the years mainly relied on Europe as its source market.
Tourism remains a key growth driver of the local economy and one of the largest employers, with the Ministry of Finance expecting the hotels and restaurants sector to expand by 5.4% in 2023 and 3.7% in 2024.