Namibia’s tourism sector in 2023 fared significantly well when compared with the pre-pandemic year of 2019, with its average occupancy rate increasing from 45.07% in 2019 to 46.3% in 2023.

This is according to the latest statistics from the Hospitality Association of Namibia (HAN).

“While the average room sales in 2023 may have ended up just under 2% lower than in 2019, the average bed occupancy is over 1% higher than four years ago – which speaks to the increase in the share of leisure travel to Namibia,” said HAN CEO, Gitta Paetzold.

Namibia’s portion of leisure travellers was just under 90% in 2023, compared with just under 84% in 2019.

In terms of business travellers, Namibia’s portion dropped from 12.65% in 2019 to 8.86% in 2023.

“This is a sign that both the business and conference travel markets have not yet recovered to the extent that the leisure travel market has recovered and even grown last year,” said Paetzold.

Growth in markets

Namibia’s European markets all saw a healthy increase. 

German-speaking countries were up from just under 30% in 2019 to 34.1% in 2023, while the French and Italian markets saw increases of about 1.5% each.

“While aware of the growing economic downturn in European countries, the number of people there still financially strong enough to travel, and the habitual strong urge to travel by Europeans in general, make this a secure travel source market,” said Paetzold.

The US market had also shown a healthy growth, reaching 4.2% in 2023 (up from 3.54% in 2019).

“From discussions with some players in the industry, it would seem as though these occupancy indicators, while reflective of tourist movement into Namibia, may not include the visibly high increase in self-drive and camping tourists in Namibia. The occupancy figures also do not reflect the healthy growth in tourism revenue, especially through the growing high-end tourism segment gaining popularity in Namibia,” cautioned Paetzold.

Looking forward in 2024

Paetzold believes that 2024 holds promise of further growth, with Namibia still high in demand for the leisure traveller.

“The international trends for 2024 include even more demand for high-end, high quality tourism, and it is encouraging to see the development of many such new properties offering this service in Namibia.

“Furthermore, global operators predict that camping will go premium, with an increasing demand for camping travel across the globe, a market also well served by Namibia. Sustainable and family travel are in demand, and Namibia is well positioned to benefits from these types of travel journeys.

“Everything thus points towards a continuation of healthy growth, both in terms of numbers and revenue for Namibia's tourism sector.”