Tourism arrivals in the country remain low after only 15% of tourists have visited the country post Covid-19 when compared to 1.5 million in 2019, Tourism minister, Pohamba Shifeta has revealed.
The figures reveal that Namibia’s tourism recovery is still far from regaining the pre-Covid-19 status.
The Tourism minister said the past two years were gloomy to many, but remains optimistic about the future.
“I am happy to share with you that the tourist arrivals numbers are on the increase since 2021 by 37.3% from 169 565 in 2020 to 232,756 arrivals in 2021, and by 4.6% translating to 243,466 in 2022 tourism seasons,” he said while giving a scope of the tourism sector.
“This growth is commendable considering the negative impacts of Covid-19 pandemic on the tourism sector globally and on Namibia in particular, since its onset in late 2019. However, I would like to add that these visitor numbers remain very low for the country as it only represents about 15% of the pre-Covid-19 numbers which was 1 595,973, and equally too less to regain the pre-Covid employment numbers in the sector,” Shifeta said.
He made these remarks while responding to Landless People’s Movement parliamentarian Henny Seibeb, who wanted to know what tourism recovery plans and strategies were in place to revive the sector post Covid-19, as well as the operation, financial standing and roles of Namibia Tourism Board, including a succession plan for its current Chief Executive Officer.
“It is a well-known fact that the Covid-19 pandemic was devastating due to global travel restrictions and border closures. The tourism economy was not spared either and many companies including NTB felt the negative effects of the pandemic in the last two years. However, the situation has since improved in 2021 and 2022 respectively. I am informed, although the collection and revenues from tourism levies and other sources are low, NTB was able to afford the payment of its staff salaries and related services through own revenue generation and support from Government budget allocation,” stated the tourism Minister.
During that period Shifeta said, NTB could only generate about N$8milion in tourism levies and a Govt grant of N$3 million in 2020.
“However, NTB expects to generate, by end of this financial year, about N$42 million in tourism levies and N$3 million from Govt grant to support their operational budget,” he said defending the agency which is alleged to be financially struggling.
In terms of the recovery plan, Shifeta said, NTB has an Integrated Strategic Business Plan and a Marketing Strategy in place for the domestic, regional and international markets. The domestic and regional marketing strategy campaign was launched in 2021.
“For the 2023 financial year, NTB embarked on the international marketing campaign by participating at travel and tourism trade fairs in central Europe; Germany, UK, France, Spain, and Indaba in South Africa for regional tourist market. Further improving domestic tourism, a two-tier approach needs to be embraced. The first-tier approach is that NTB, as the national marketing agency, it needs to create general awareness which it has been doing regarding various tourism highlights and activities,” he added.
The second approach he said, needs to be boosted by support from the private sector, urging them to aggressively seek clients by offering better and affordable pricing, especially in the accommodation industry to residents as this is the most expensive component of travel.
“The Ministry of Environment, Forestry and Tourism, NTB and private sector will continue to explore new potential tourist markets as contained in the Tourism Recovery Plan, and as seen recently by Namibia attending the second biggest 44th Tourism Trade Fair of Belgrade in Serbia from 23 to 26 February 2023,” stated Shifeta.
He however said, exploring and developing new source markets requires extensive financial investment as any marketing activities are paid in hard foreign currency which NTB cannot afford at this stage.
The funds NTB generates are predominantly to sustain existing primary source markets, Shifeta explained.
“Therefore, going forward the sector has adopted digital marketing for a wider reach for those new markets in which Namibia has no representation at less cost,” the Minister said.
Namibia is a member of the United Nations World Tourism Organisation to which in 2022 paid a membership fee of N$890,000, as a means to boost the tourism industry.
Regarding the CEO succession, Shifeta said that the current term of the CEO Digu //Naobeb comes to an end this June 2023 and the board has already embarked on the recruitment process of the new head.
