Tourism sector employs nearly 8% of workforce

In 2022, Namibia’s tourism sector directly generated 57 571 jobs, accounting for 7.9% of the country’s total employment. This signified a significant improvement from the previous year, when the sector directly created 29 000 jobs – about 3.9% of total employment.These statistics, contained in a tourism satellite account (TSA) report, indicated that tourism’s direct contribution to country’s gross domestic product (GDP) last year was estimated at 6.9%. In monetary terms, the tourism sector was valued at N$14.3 million.The report showed that inbound tourism generated approximately N$12.4 billion, while domestic tourism generated about N$12.6 billion.It also noted that there were 17 081 establishments in tourism-related industries, highlighting the scale of the sector. Economic measurementAccording to tourism minister Pohamba Shifeta, the TSA report is one of the main tools for the economic measurement of tourism. “Tourism is not just about travel and leisure - the sector is a vital economic driver of the Namibian economy that contributes significantly to the national GDP through job and employment creation, foreign currency earnings, skills development and overall economic and social development.”He said tourism’s 2022 contribution to the GDP is “commendable, considering the negative impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic on the sector in 2020 and 2021”.The wealth of information contained in the report empowers decision-makers to identify trends, assess the effectiveness of marketing initiatives and tailor offerings to meet evolving consumer preferences, he added. A leisure destinationTourism director Sebulon Chicalu said in 2022, Namibia welcomed a total of 527 610 inbound visitors, who collectively spent about N$14.8 billion.The majority of these visitors - over 421 000 - were categorised as being holiday, leisure or recreational travellers, contributing about N$12 billion (81.1%) to the total. “Visitors in the friends and relatives category accounted for about N$1 billion in spending (7%), while those on business trips and in transit spent almost N$932.3 million and N$145.8 million respectively.According to Chicalu, overnight visitors made about 4.7 million trips, while about 2.6 million trips were made by same-day visitors.He said overnight visitors spent N$2.1 billion on food and beverages, while the least spending occurred on cultural services (N$12.8 million). On the other hand, same-day visitors spent most of their money – about N$1.4 billion - on products for consumption. “The domestic tourism aspect of outbound tourism resulted in a total expenditure of about N$1.7 billion.”Chicalu said the majority of this was spent on accommodation services.

Tourism sector employs nearly 8% of workforce

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Namibian Sun 2026-07-22

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Tourism sector employs nearly 8% of workforce

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Namibian Sun 2026-07-22

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