On November 15, Tourism Update published an article entitled ‘Boom in Namibia tourism impacts availability’. The article examined occupation statistics from the Hospitality Association of Namibia (HAN) which recorded a 60% occupancy across the country throughout 2016. HAN’s review of 2016 attributed a lack of availability to an increase in occupancy as the result of a boom in tourism.

Members of the industry have since reached out to Tourism Update to provide an alternative perspective.

Thomas Müller, Co-Founder and CEO of Rainmaker Digital, says: “Being deeply involved in the Namibian tourism industry, I agree that we had an uptake in tourism in 2016 and 2017. However, I am of the belief that the inefficiency of the Namibian tourism industry creates a perception of availability issues and success of Namibian tourism, which may not be entirely accurate.

“While the tourism industry is doing well in comparison to other Namibian industries, there is still an awful lot to be done from all stakeholders involved, for us to reach double-digit percentages in growth by 2020.”

Members of the industry have said one of the biggest reasons stakeholders now have increasing difficulty securing bookings is simply due to the larger DMCs’ block bookings and allotments.

Müller says: “In most cases, the DMCs’ wholesalers/agents are unable to integrate real-time availability into their systems. The flip side is that very few properties in Namibia offer real-time availability at all. DMCs, therefore have no choice but to use allotments and block bookings to secure their business.”

He adds that depending on the property, it could happen that only 20-50% of these bookings actually materialise. Normally, these block bookings and allotments are only released about 45 or 30 days prior to arrival. “Since Namibia is not a last minute destination, the suppliers usually have difficulty in selling those now empty rooms in the short time frame. In fact, the DMC value chain operates solely on the risk and account of the supplier.”

At the same time, the local in-destination tour operators as well as FITs booking direct are having difficulties finding availability, even a year ahead of arrival. “This not only has a negative impact on the entire destination, but also on the business of the smaller local in-destination independent tour operators,” says Müller.

He says in his opinion 2018’s ‘fully booked’ status is nothing more than a skewed perception.

“When one looks into the statistics provided by HAN, they also might not be perfectly representative, as this statistic is usually based on around 10-40 out of 2 100 registered suppliers in Namibia and often mainly in the Windhoek and Swakopmund area, not providing a clear picture of the entire destination.

At the same time, the Namibian government has not published any accurate tourism data since 2015 and the only statistics HAN and the FNB Tourism Index has to work with is what they receive voluntarily from the properties themselves, which is often manually drawn up information.”

Paul Brinkmann, COO of TDM Africa (MD Sense of Africa and Wild Africa Travel), however, has an alternative view. “We believe that HAN’s statistics are a fair reflector of business in Namibia, despite the fact that they represent only a portion of the hospitality industry. We also believe that, taking seasonality into account, a level of 60% occupancy does reflect a boom in tourism. To provide a broader context, if we were to ask properties for their occupancy from August through October, we would find that most sit above 80%, with some in the very high 90s.”

He adds that, from his perspective, the industry in Namibia has had a very prosperous year. “The availability problem in Namibia is not simply because of a lack of digital integration. Rather, it is exacerbated by two factors. Firstly, we are a touring destination, so a bottleneck in a specific highlight area will result in an entire itinerary being cancelled. For example, the Namib Desert, Damaraland and Etosha are key highlights and key problem areas. Secondly, we are still very seasonal. As a result the main periods that our leisure guests want to book are also the main bottlenecks.”

Brinkmann says he welcomes the idea of live availability in the FIT world. However, removing block bookings, required for group travel, will not lead to the destination growing purely based on FIT bookings. “The industry has to operate in both worlds.”

He adds that in order for any international tour operator, or wholesaler, to market and promote packages and tours to Namibia, they require a certain amount of confirmed inventory. “The significant international players have the whole world to choose from. As a result, without the certainty that the tour, or safari, they are promoting has the published accommodation, they will not sell or promote that tour.”

Brinkmann says replacing this with live availability will result in the loss of key marketing by international players and their distribution channels. “Live availability does not address group travel or the risks involved. The DMCs in Namibia are embracing online technology and the advantages that live availability brings, where they can. However, the process is imperfect, and in a small market many are still using the telephone or long-term relationships, to beg for space. I believe that some work must still be done to address these issues. In my opinion, the answer lies in effective yield management and risk assumption.”

He adds that the complaints regarding the lack of live availability have largely risen out of Swakopmund where, as a result of significant investment, the room infrastructure has grown significantly. “The suppliers there have found that their increase in available accommodation has not necessarily resulted in the influx of bookings they expected. This is because unless a tour includes bookings in highlight areas it will not be confirmed. As a result, these suppliers have grown increasingly frustrated, believing that block bookings in highlight areas prevent them from filling these spots themselves and securing their accommodation bookings. They see live availability as the answer to their frustration.”

He points out, however, that while this is an inconvenience for the industry at large, block bookings are still essential to the success of the industry. “You cannot grow the industry by stealing from Peter to give to Paul. What we need is an increase in investment in all highlight areas.”