In June of this year accommodation establishments in Namibia recorded an overall occupancy rate of 47.3%, which is 3% lower than last year June and 4% lower than in 2019- pre- Covid.
The year 2019 is considered the last pre-pandemic year for tourism, with the CEO of the Hospitality Association of Namibia, Gitta Paetzold stating that June is traditionally a quiet month for tourism in Namibia, before the onset of the tourism high season as of July.
“This may be mere coincidence, following Namibia's announcement at the end of May this year, of a more stringent visa regime affecting all of the country's key source markets as of next year.”
Paetzold said that it is still premature to comment on the effect the new visa regulations will have on the country's tourism sector, but there is no use denying the concerns the industry has, mainly due to the inconclusive information on the new visa system, on the full process and whether multi-entry visas will be provided, and whether a special dispensation is being prepared for day-visitors.
“With the added threat of sharp price increases on long-haul flights in Europe, due to added climate levies and taxes, the Namibian tourism industry faces some serious challenges in the months to come.”
Namibia has decided to impose visa requirements to nationals of 33 countries.
The nationals from these countries however will qualify for visas on arrival upon paying the prescribed fees and meeting the entry requirements in respect of Namibia.
Cabinet decided that to make it simple, all arriving passengers from the
affected countries will qualify for visas on arrival upon paying the prescribed fees. The fee has been set at N$ 1 600-00 per applicant. This will be implemented as from 1 April next year.
Paetzold further said that it is encouraging to see that the accommodation numbers for the first half of the year exceeded those of last year by nearly 5% at 43.3% and even out-performed that of 2019 when the occupancy was 40.4%, based on average national occupancy over the 6-month period.
“These statistics provide evidence that at least for the bona fide tourism sector, - people travelling for holiday and leisure, thus making use of tourism facilities and services and spending foreign currency on such, and to some extent, the business travel sector- have fully recovered since 2019, even if the overall number of people crossing borders into Namibia in the past year have not yet reached the levels of 2019,” said Peatzold.
She said that as per the occupancy statistics for June, positive growth is reflected from the Central European markets, in particular France (6.9%), and Italy (4.1%), and of course, the German-speaking countries of Germany, Austria and Switzerland (28.1%).
The year 2019 is considered the last pre-pandemic year for tourism, with the CEO of the Hospitality Association of Namibia, Gitta Paetzold stating that June is traditionally a quiet month for tourism in Namibia, before the onset of the tourism high season as of July.
“This may be mere coincidence, following Namibia's announcement at the end of May this year, of a more stringent visa regime affecting all of the country's key source markets as of next year.”
Paetzold said that it is still premature to comment on the effect the new visa regulations will have on the country's tourism sector, but there is no use denying the concerns the industry has, mainly due to the inconclusive information on the new visa system, on the full process and whether multi-entry visas will be provided, and whether a special dispensation is being prepared for day-visitors.
“With the added threat of sharp price increases on long-haul flights in Europe, due to added climate levies and taxes, the Namibian tourism industry faces some serious challenges in the months to come.”
Namibia has decided to impose visa requirements to nationals of 33 countries.
The nationals from these countries however will qualify for visas on arrival upon paying the prescribed fees and meeting the entry requirements in respect of Namibia.
Cabinet decided that to make it simple, all arriving passengers from the
affected countries will qualify for visas on arrival upon paying the prescribed fees. The fee has been set at N$ 1 600-00 per applicant. This will be implemented as from 1 April next year.
Paetzold further said that it is encouraging to see that the accommodation numbers for the first half of the year exceeded those of last year by nearly 5% at 43.3% and even out-performed that of 2019 when the occupancy was 40.4%, based on average national occupancy over the 6-month period.
“These statistics provide evidence that at least for the bona fide tourism sector, - people travelling for holiday and leisure, thus making use of tourism facilities and services and spending foreign currency on such, and to some extent, the business travel sector- have fully recovered since 2019, even if the overall number of people crossing borders into Namibia in the past year have not yet reached the levels of 2019,” said Peatzold.
She said that as per the occupancy statistics for June, positive growth is reflected from the Central European markets, in particular France (6.9%), and Italy (4.1%), and of course, the German-speaking countries of Germany, Austria and Switzerland (28.1%).
