Namibia’s tourist arrivals appear to have reached a plateau with average occupancy rates for the third quarter of the year – the country’s tourism high season – at 3% lower than in 2019 and 1.5% lower than last year.

The latest statistics from the Hospitality Association of Namibia (HAN) indicate that average occupancies across 114 member properties were just under 63.5% for July to September.

“It does seem as though recovery and growth momentum is gradually ebbing out,” said HAN CEO Gitta Paetzold.

She said the decline could potentially be linked to major international sports events such as the 2024 Paris Olympics, during the quarter, which may have affected numbers from Europe – by far the country’s largest tourist source market.

Macro-economic factors, the announcement of stricter visa regulations and global political crises could also be contributing factors, Paetzold added.

“We have to await the full results for 2024 to determine whether the increasing costs of flights, more stringent visa regulations as well as issues, such as global political developments and crises in the Middle East, had any noticeable effect on Namibia's tourism numbers.”

The German-speaking countries of Germany, Switzerland, Austria and Belgium accounted for just under 35% of occupancies during the third quarter while the rest of Europe (including the UK and Ireland) made just over 35%.

USA and Canada maintained their share of occupancies at around 4.4% while the share of arrivals from South Africa dropped by 1.4% to 4.75% for the quarter.

Of the total occupancies, 94.5% fell under leisure travel compared with 91.6% last year. The share of business travel occupancies fell from 7.7% to a shade over 5%.