Hospitality occupancy expected to end on a high note this year – HAN
The average hospitality occupancy in November exceeded 45 percent across the country, the Hospitality Association of Namibia (HAN) revealed Thursday.
The figures released are just 11% shy of the performance of 2019, pre-pandemic normality, and an increase of over 10 percent on the 2021 performance, a clear indication of the continued tourism recovery in Namibia, which in November reached almost 80% of normality, HAN CEO Gitta Paetzold said Thursday in a statement.
“Depending on the results of the final month, December, performance thus far indicates that Namibia will end the year 2022 at over 70% of pre-pandemic levels for the entire year, with the high season, July – October reaching nearly 80 percent,” she noted.
According to Paetzold, the domestic market still represents some 25% of all occupancy, Central Europe over 50%, the South African market some 5.5%, and the UK and the USA some 4 and 3.4 % respectively.
Paetzold hopes that with continued outreach and diverse marketing activities by the private sector across the globe, Namibia will be able to not only build on the tourism recovery but also grow and diversify its tourism source markets.
A strong recovery in foreign arrivals has supported improving occupancy rates at nationwide hospitality establishments in Namibia. A national occupancy rate of 45.8% was recorded during November 2022, compared to 54.6% in the prior month and 35.1% in November 2021 according to HAN
Year to date the national occupancy rate averages 40.3%, compared to 23.5% in 2021 and 15.6% in 2020 for the same period (January to November).
