Namibia recently launched its sixth edition of the Tourism Satellite Account (TSA), signifying an important milestone for the country’s tourism sector.

Namibia forms part of an exclusive list of African nations, including Uganda, Zanzibar, Rwanda and Kenya, that have developed a TSA in recent years.

While Namibia has produced previous versions of the TSA, this latest edition represents the first TSA compiled predominantly by a Namibian team, comprising staff from the Ministry of Environment, Forestry and Tourism, the Namibia Statistics Agency, UN agencies led by the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, and various other key stakeholders.

Unlike prior editions that used the World Travel and Tourism Council methodology, this TSA applied the UN Tourism framework.

The report focuses exclusively on the direct economic impact of tourism for now, with the team committed to expanding the analysis to indirect effects in future editions. Additionally, plans are in place to develop complementary reports examining sub-sectors like cultural tourism and aviation.

The new TSA contains extensive data on tourism’s contribution to the economy, including the headline finding that the sector generated 7% of Namibia’s GDP. In monetary terms that equates to N$14.3 billion (€696.7m) – recorded in 2022.

Arguably the greatest value of Namibia’s TSA lies in the expanded ownership of the tourism sector’s monitoring and analysis. With more authorities invested in accurately capturing tourism’s impact, the industry may gain increased recognition and critical budget allocations to unlock greater growth potential.

The report’s emphasis on direct impacts lays the groundwork for future explorations into the broader economic, social, and environmental dimensions of tourism.

As UN Resident Co-ordinator, Hopolang Phororo, said: “Tourism presents the perfect avenue for African countries like Namibia to transition from extraction-based economies to more sustainable, value-added models.

“The promising teamwork and fruitful capabilities demonstrated in the 2022 TSA are exciting harbingers of even better measurement and understanding of Namibia’s tourism sector in the future. The collaborative efforts to craft this report may prove vital steps in the country’s journey to optimise the benefits of tourism for national development.”

Click here to access Namibia’s 2022 TSA report.