Category: Tourism

Background

The room and bed occupancy rates serves as a proxy to Namibia’s tourism sector. This indicates the demand for the hospitality sector in the country. The Covid-19 restrictions and lockdown measures imposed during the year 2020 to contain the spread of Covid-19 has negatively affected the demand for accomondation services for Namibia. Figure 1 below shows the rooms and beds occupancy rates for Namibia pre-Covid-19 and during Covid-19.

Additionally, for the first three quarters of 2021 the statistics indicates that the demand for accomomodation services is slowly returning and starting to pick up. This came as a result of the  relaxation of the majority of the Covid-19 restrictions. See figure 2 below

Figure 1: Rooms and beds occupancy rates, Namibia (2017-2020)

Figure 2: Rooms and beds occupancy rates, Namibia (2021)

Outlook

There are green shots on the horizon for the revival of Namibia’s tourism industry and the demand for accommodation services in the remaining months of 2021. This could be attributed to aggressive vaccine rollouts which will result into a decline in the number of Covid-19 infections. This will lead to Namibia remaining as low-risk and an ideal travel destination. The upcoming festive season could also drive up the demand for travel retail and hospitality sector for Namibia.

Executive summary

• International arrivals for August 2021 declined to 5 113 from 45 835 recorded for August 2019 pre-covid-19
• The decline in the number of arrivals was a result of travel restrictions imposed to curb the spread of Covid-19
• On a 12 month cumulative basis between August 2019 to August 2020, Namibia recorded a total of 277 971 arrivals compared to 53 073 recorded for the period of August 2020 to August 2021. See figure 1

Analysis

• On an annual basis, the number of arrivals for Namibia declined from -9.03% for August 2019 to -98.60% for August 2020 as a consequence of a ban on international travels
• In actual numbers international arrivals increased to 5 113 for August 2021 from 1109 recorded for August 2020. This came as a result of the ease of Covid-19 restrictions and the global vaccination rollouts. See figure 2
• The adoption of digital health solutions for safe travel has also led to improvements in the international arrivals

Figure 1: Hosea Kutako International Monthly Arrivals

Figure 2: Hosea Kutako International Airport Arrivals Year on Year % changes

Outlook

The effectiveness of the aggressive vaccine rollout, and the lifting of Covid-19 travel restrictions will lead to a further increase in the number of international arrivals for Namibia in the short to medium term. This will improve the outlook for travel retail and tourism for the Namibian economy.

Total International/Domestic Arrivals growth rate(2010-2020), Namibia

Report by Monika Kristof

The Hosea Kutako International Airport arrivals declined from (-12.70%) to a depressing (-89.63%) year on year. The actual number of arrivals dropped from 34,058 recorded for December 2019 to 9,445 recorded for December 2020.The decline was due to unprecedented global travel disruptions because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Travel retail is among the most affected sectors with a massive fall in international demand due to global travel restrictions. There still remains a significant number of boarders that are fully closed in an effort to contain the virus. Figure 1 indicates the actual number of arrivals and figure 2 indicates the year-on-year percentage growth of arrivals through the Hosea Kutako International Airport.

Figure 1: Hosea Kutako International Airport Arrivals (Dec-2019-Dec-2020)

Figure 2: Hosea Kutako International Airport Arrivals Year on Year % Growth (Dec-2019-Dec 2020)

The Hosea Kutako International Airport arrivals declined from (-9.03%) to (-98.5%) year on year, August 2020. In actual numbers arrivals dropped to 1109 from 45585 that was recorded for August 2019. The decline was attributed to the lockdown measures to curb the spread of Covid 19. The figure below indicates the year on year negative growth of Arrivals through the Hosea Kutako International Airport.