Uplifting Namibian tourism

My name is Selma Niilenge, and I am a 20-year-old first-year student at Triumphant College.

I am currently studying travel and tourism. I chose this course because I will have the opportunity to travel to different places that have different cultures and lifestyles.

In my childhood, my biggest dream was to travel around the globe and interact with new people because that was my favourite hobby. However, I also realised that travelling is a good remedy for anxiety, stress and depression.

Travel and tourism lead to a variety of rewarding opportunities, from working as a travel agent to a hotel management career. In this field of study, I get to broaden my knowledge in the field of tourism, learn a lot about hospitality and contribute to the upliftment of the tourism industry.

The challenges faced in the tourism industry are taxation, infrastructure issues, cross-border regulations and travel markets. I mean, the greatest challenge we have had to date is the Covid-19 pandemic and how it affected travel around the world.

With the World Health Organisation (WHO) stating that this is no longer considered a pandemic, there has been an increase in tourism, especially here in Namibia where we have seen big names visiting the country to see our tourism hotspots.

Moreover, this sector is quite important, as it contributes immensely to the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) and creates jobs for people.

In this course, I've learnt about the destination market, customer service and event management, so my expectations are that I will have the opportunity to study abroad and be provided with first-hand experience of different cultures and customs.