Tourism facilities record a national occupancy rate of 51% in July
Local tourism facilities recorded a national occupancy rate of 51% was recorded during July 2022, the highest since December 2019, according to the Hospitality Association of Namibia.
This is also an impressive monthly increase compared to 32.1% in the prior month and 11.9% in July 2021. The national occupancy rate averaged 32.7%, compared to 20.2% for the same period in 2021, showing an improvement in tourist inflows.
“Namibia ranks low in terms of overall Covid-19 regulation stringency. Indeed, besides Switzerland, Namibia has the lowest stringency index amongst its main tourist markets. This bodes well for Namibia’s marketing initiatives in attracting,” Economist Theo Klein said.
Meanwhile, the proportion of Namibian guests at local hospitality establishments continues to decline as more foreigners visit, decreasing from 34% in June 2022 to 17.9% in July 2022.
“Local tourism might be limited in the near future as local travellers battle with expensive food, fuel, and accommodation prices,” Klein said.
Central Europe remains Namibia’s key tourist market (57% of total guests), with 31.3% of guests in July 2022 travelling from Germany, Switzerland, and Austria combined, South Africa (12.2%), Benelux (10.9%), France (7.3%) and the US and Canada combined (4.3%).
Klein said the tourism sector remains a key driver of economic activity in 2022, supporting a 2.5% GDP growth forecast for the year.
“It certainly is a sector of the economy that has a very low base to grow from. We remain positive on the developments that we observe in the monthly data and expect to see other sectors benefiting as well (e.g. transport, retail, professional services, etc.),” he added.
