The Namibia Statistics Agency (NSA) reports that the central region experienced a significant decline in room occupancy, with figures dropping by 58.2% in June.
The decrease follows a consistent monthly slowdown in the nationwide room occupancy rate index, which fell by 21.6% in June 2024, compared to a growth of 3.7% in the previous month.
Additionally, the index recorded a year-on-year decline of 7.5%.
“During the period under review, the central region registered the highest decline of 58.2%, followed by the southern region with 23.5% and the coastal region in third position with 21.9%. The northern region posted the lowest decline of 16.1% during the period under review,” the NSA sectoral report on rooms and bed occupancy said.
In June 2024, the number of rooms available nationwide amounted to 61,694, of which 29,193 rooms (47.3%) were sold.
“This marked an improvement compared to May 2024, which posted a total of 52,472 rooms available nationwide. While rooms sold in June 2024 (29 193) were lower when compared to rooms sold a month earlier (3, 663),” said NSA.
This comes as room occupancies were lower across all types of hospitality establishments in June 2024 compared to the preceding month, except for rest camps, which experienced higher occupancies during the reporting period.
“In June 2024, the room occupancy for tented camps was 63.3%, down from 73.6% recorded a month earlier. Hotels recorded occupancy of 45.9%, down from 63.4%, while lodges had an occupancy of 45.1%, down from 59.8% recorded in the preceding month,” said NSA in terms of room occupancy.
Conversely, rest camps posted a notable increase of 26.5%, up from 22.5% that was recorded in the preceding month.
In June 2024, a total of 55,162 beds were sold, out of 127,785 beds available nationwide, compared to 58,659 beds sold in May 2024 out of 107,411 beds available.
“The index for bed occupancy rate slowed down on a monthly basis in June 2024, recording a decline of 21.0% in contrast to a growth of 5.4% posted in the preceding month. Furthermore, the index declined by 0.1% year-on-year,” said NSA.
Meanwhile, the northern region posted the highest bed surplus of 27,798 beds during June 2024, while the coastal and central regions recorded the least surpluses of 9,894 beds and 7,955 beds, respectively.
“Tented camps registered the highest occupancy rate of 58.1% in June 2024, though lower than the preceding month (68.8%). Lodges followed in second place with a bed occupancy rate of 42.4%, and hotels in third place with 37.6%. Guest farms and rest camps recorded the lowest bed occupancies of 35.1% and 23.7%, respectively,” said NSA in terms of bed occupancy.
