Positive prospects for local tourism

A national occupancy rate of 54.6% was recorded during October 2022, compared to 52.9% in the prior month and 33.8% in October 2021 according to the Hospitality Association of Namibia (HAN). Year to date, the national occupancy rate averages 39.7%, compared to 22.3% in 2021 and 15.4% in 2020 for the same period (January to October).

The proportion of Namibian guests at local hospitality establishments increased from 16.0% in September 2022 to 22.2% in October 2022. This is the second consecutive month of increased locals making up total guests, signalling that Namibia’s peak tourist season has come to an end, as it normally does in September.

Most guests at nationwide hospitality establishments came from Germany, Switzerland and Austria (39.7%), France (7.4%), South Africa (5.5%), UK and Ireland (3.9%) and Italy (2.7%). Hospitality establishments in the northern area recorded the highest occupancy rate (62.3%), followed by the coastal area (56.8%), central area (53.9%) and southern area (46.1%) in October 2022.

According to Simonis Storm, the tourism sector continues to play a key role in the Namibian economy, as it has strong links to other sectors and is an important enabler of job creation. The sector typically makes use of Namibia’s abundant unskilled labour and should be seen as a solution to high unemployment rates in certain rural areas. “We continue to see favourable developments in the sector such as nomad visas, green hydrogen projects at the coast, growing number of flights servicing local airports and no Covid-19 restrictions being in place. As a result, we expect the tourism industry to support local economic activity in 2023,” Simonis Storm said.