We need to protect the sector and tourists together – Shifeta
Namibia, as a Member State of the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), joined the rest of the world in celebrating World Tourism Day (WTD), which has been commemorated on the 27 of September every year since 1980.
Namibia joined the rest of the world in celebrating the day this week under the theme of “Tourism and the Digital Transformation”.
The Minister of Environment and Tourism, Pohamba Shifeta in a statement said, the theme for this year is relevant to the county, as they seek to take advantage of technology in the management and collection of data related to tourism, tourism marketing and addressing the challenges faced to the security of tourists to the country.
“Although Namibia has made tremendous progress in developing and growing the tourism industry, the sector is still facing challenges such as customer service delivery, limited geographical spread of tourists, community beneficiation from the sector and access to funding among others,” he said.
According to Shifeta, the recent incidences of crime against tourists are a great concern to the nation.
“Tourism has enormous significance to our economy and it is therefore essential that we value the presence of our visitors by according them the warmest hospitality we can give,” he added.
Shifeta said the country is committed to overcoming the challenges in the sector and make use of digital advancements to advance the competitiveness of destination Namibia.
“We can only take tourism to the next level by understanding that we need each other, we need to market destination Namibia together using innovative means including digital technology, we need to protect the sector and tourists together,” he added.
Tourism over the past years in the country, has become an important sector for the growth of the economy, contributing about 15% to the Gross Domestic Product.
