Bumper winter for tourism

Accommodation establishments in Namibia recorded bumper statistics last month breaking the highest occupancy that has been recorded for August in the past ten years. With an average room occupancy of 71.7% recorded by Namibian tourism accommodation establishments last month, this year’s peak tourism month is officially the highest August occupancy recorded by the Hospitality Association of Namibia (HAN) in the last decade, HAN CEO Gitta Paetzold announced. According to Paetzold, based on occupancy reports submitted to the Hospitality Association of Namibia from its members, Namibia has seen a growth in guest numbers at accommodation establishments by more than 10%, compared to August last year. Already in July, an increase of over 5% on 2015 was recorded during this year’s high season in tourism for Namibia thus promising to be one of the best ever. While HAN data is not inclusive of all accommodation facilities available in Namibia, the statistics compare well with similar data released by lodge groups recently and is seen as good indicator of the status quo of the tourism sector.Paetzold said that the average occupancy for Namibian tourism accommodation establishments during August over the past ten years has been around 59.5%, making this year’s result of 71.7% a clear indication of the positive trend the tourism sector is able to enjoy at present.This year, Namibians travelling in August were the highest occupiers of rooms at establishments, with 11 670 visitors and 30% of rooms taken by Namibians, followed by a consistent share of 25.6% by German-speaking European visitors (9 771), while close to 12 % of visitors (4 542) at establishments coming from South Africa.Lower in the rankings were visitors from Italy with 5.56% (2 116) of the visitors at establishments, and France and Benelux both totalling 4.47% of visitors at accommodation establishments (1 703).The statistics further indicate that out of the rooms sold nationally, the central part of Namibia was the preferred place to stay during August with 8 407 rooms sold with 65.6% occupancy, while at the coast 5 072 rooms were sold with 75.11% occupancy and the northern regions sold 4 873 rooms with 81.86% occupancy and in the south 3 781 rooms were sold where there were 71.68% occupancy.Based on the statistical records HAN holds of the past decade, German-speaking Europe still remains the largest source market for guests to accommodation establishments, with some 26.16% of guests to establishments in August over the past decade coming from Germany, Austria or Switzerland. Namibians frequenting establishments over the past ten years were the second biggest group with 24.8% of all rooms occupied by Namibians in August, followed by South Africa, with close to 10% over the past decade.According to HAN, last year was a less successful year for Namibia tourism as well as for tourism in southern Africa in general, with general occupancy in August sinking to a low of 60% only, causing some discouragement after the positive growth the previous year. Reasons for the slump were seen in the effects of the Ebola scare at the time, as well as restrictive visa and travel regulations imposed by South Africa.In 2014, Namibia recorded average room occupancy of 69.5% in August, until then the highest recording in occupancy after Namibia’s boom year of 2008, when the peak month of August recorded 65%.Paetzold said that the current figures are a clear indication of the success of the domestic tourism marketing campaign the industry has conducted with the Namibia Tourism Board and the ministry of environment and tourism over the past few years, as well as the effective marketing by NTB Frankfurt in Europe and the continued popularity of Namibia in the well-established European markets.Namibia currently ranks high on the list of popular travel destinations across the globe, partly due to the fact that other popular destinations for European travellers, such as North Africa, Turkey and other parts of the Mediterranean fell out of favour due to political turmoil. ELLANIE SMIT

Bumper winter for tourism

Comments

Namibian Sun 2025-07-03

Please login to leave a comment

Bumper winter for tourism

Comments

Namibian Sun 2025-07-03

Please login to leave a comment

Login