Tourism 'will be brought to its knees'

The tourism ministry will urgently consult with its works counterpart over new regulations that aircraft are not allowed to land at unlicensed airfields in the country, in order to avoid a crisis.

The new regulations, which will lead to a tourism and aviation crisis, come into effect from 1 January next year and will impact 100 airfields.

Tourism director Sem Shikongo told Namibian Sun there was no consultation with his ministry or the industry over these new regulations.

Works minister John Mutorwa gazetted an amendment to the civil aviation regulations on 8 November.

The newly published regulations state that commercial flights are no longer allowed to land on unlicensed airfields, which were possible under the old regulations.

“What they are proposing is good, but they should have consulted on the operation of the issue and they should have given some time for people to comply,” said Shikongo.

He said the new regulations render most airstrips illegal and therefore the bulk of the scenic tours may now no longer be able to operate as of the date of enforcement.

“Scenic tours will basically come to a halt and most tourists want to fly. The idea is good, but the timing of this is not. Tourism will be on its knees.”

Shikongo said the requirement for registration also include an environmental impact assessment (EIA), which is good. However, there was not enough time to ensure compliance.

“We are urgently going to consult with them on the matter.”

He said the root cause of the problem is a lack of consultation and information-sharing to ensure effective, harmonised and synergised legal and policy frameworks that allow for the industry to efficiently generate revenue and profits, while being effectively controlled and regulated by government.

Shikongo said overall the problem in government is that ministries are not consulting with each other.

He pointed out there are several SOEs within the works ministry that impact on tourism, but there is never any consultation.

“TransNamib, Namport, the Directorate of Civil Aviation, the Roads Authority, the Namibia Airports Company and MVA Fund all impact on tourism.

“They did not think about the impact that this will have on tourism. This is the way we do things in the country, we operate in silos,” Shikongo said.

Federation of Namibian Tourism Associations (Fenata) chairman Bernd Schneider said last week that fly-in safaris form a key part of the Namibian tourism industry and that many lodges, especially those in remote areas, rely heavily on their landing strips and the resulting air access to bring in their clients.

He said with the ever-deteriorating road conditions, light aircraft flights have become an increasingly important mode of transport for the tourism industry. He said the new regulations will ground commercial flights to nearly 100 airfields in Namibia from 1 January next year. This will affect more than 600 000 passengers or tourists.

According to Schneider these regulations will also force most light aircraft operators to shut down their businesses as well, resulting in substantial job losses. The Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association (AOPA) also sent a detailed submission to Mutorwa.

“As the tourism industry we fully support safe air travel and any regulations that ensure overall aviation safety in Namibia. But, regulations that have such a massive and far-reaching impact on an entire industry must be communicated well in advance and must be crafted with extensive stakeholder consultation. Both of these have been neglected,” said Schneider.

He said it is unlikely that all affected airfields will be able to comply with the new regulations in a timely manner, as it is clearly highlighted in its submissions to Mutorwa.

He said an interim solution must be found urgently, in order to prevent extensive and lasting damage to the tourism industry.

ELLANIE SMIT