Hospitality Association of Namibia (HAN) chairperson, Shepherd Chinhoi, said Namibian tourism had seen enormous growth, despite other industries experiencing a downward trajectory.
Speaking at the launch of HAN’s 2017 congress, which also marked its 30th anniversary, Chinhoi said the world tourism report showed that the global tourism industry was expected to grow by 4% yearly until 2020. He said in many countries, the tourism industry would experience double-digit growth, and Namibia was no exception.
Gitta Paetzold, HAN CEO, told Tourism Update: “Tourism in Namibia is doing well, especially when compared with the other pillars of our economy – mining, fishing and agriculture – which our country used to rely on in the past.”
Tourism demand has increased in Namibia to the point that stakeholders now have increasing difficulty securing bookings.
“We are told that 2018 already seems ‘sold out’ for most properties in key areas. This is all the more reason for the tourism industry to put heads and hands together to develop an effective way of processing and managing the increasing demand in a sustainable manner.”
According to HAN’s review of the statistics, 2016 will go down as one of the most successful and positive tourism years for Namibia thus far.
In 2016, the country’s tourism accommodation properties recorded nearly 60% occupancy across the country and throughout the year. Lodges, tented lodges and guest houses are the most popular accommodation facilities, but hotels fare almost equally well, both in Windhoek and along the coast. Properties in Windhoek were popular with both leisure and business travellers.
The coastal region exceeded the overall average, faring best of all the regions, with occupancy, on average, over 62% in 2016. This comes after Swakopmund experienced a remarkable growth in available accommodation in 2015, with hundreds of additional beds added to the already ample offering of tourism accommodation at the coast.
