Though the southern African nation of Namibia recorded a 98.1 pc growth in tourist arrivals in 2022, it is still far away from the pre-pandemic peaks. The largest source markets continue to be southern Africa and Europe.

Namibia recorded a 98.1 pc increase in inbound tourist arrivals last year, according to the 2022 Tourism Arrival Statistical Report released recently.

The Namibian Ministry of Tourism says that tourist arrivals grew from 232,756 in 2021 to 461,027 in 2022. However, even with this growth, Namibia remains far away from the pre-pandemic peak foreign tourist arrivals of 1.68 million that the destination had registered in 2019.

“With the sector’s recovery gaining momentum, the ministry encourages destination managers, tour operators, and all relevant stakeholders to develop new products, routes, and additional destinations. This will enhance the visitor experience and make ‘Destination Namibia’ more appealing to repeat visitors,” says Pohamba Shifeta, Minister of Environment, Forestry, and Tourism of Namibia.

The tourism ministry adds that Namibia’s top 10 tourist source markets in 2022 were South Africa, Angola, Germany, Zambia, Botswana, France, the UK, US, Italy, and Switzerland.

“Travel season data revealed that 53.1 pc of tourists travelled between September and December, 36.1 pc between May and August, and 10.8 pc between January and April,” says the ministry in its report.

Shifeta adds that the country’s tourism sector had the potential to benefit from opportunities within the domestic and inter-regional markets. ‘‘Therefore, it is crucial to increase the country’s marketing efforts to boost demand for travel among locals and regional markets, aiming for robust and sustainable tourism,’’ says Shifeta.

The ministry was currently implementing the Tourism Sector Recovery Plan, which outlined a framework for policy interventions and strategic programmes to support each stage of the recovery phase, the minister adds.