The national occupancy rates increased to 37.09% for January 2023. This reflects a significant annual improvement from 19.53% which was recorded during the same period last year. Positive occupancy rates signify an improvement in the overall full recovery of the tourism sector. Occupancy rates increased momentously and have reached pre-pandemic levels. Additionally, tourist arrivals improved substantially for January 2023 when compared to the same month in 2022 and 2021 respectively (See figure 1 below). Arrivals increased to 28, 441 for January 2023 compared to 17, 175 recorded during the same month of 2022. The increase in total arrivals between January 2022 and 2023 was mainly driven by international arrivals which increased from 5, 156 to 11, 909. This signifies a stellar recovery of international tourists visiting Namibia from the negative impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The performance of the sector remains positive for 2023. This is due to positive sentiments reflected by an increase in international arrivals which are expected to increase the national occupancy rates. We expect domestic and international arrivals to remain positive for 2023 and beyond, which will result in the tourism sector’s wider recovery.
Figure 1: National Occupancy rates vs. HKIA arrivals rooms and beds occupancy rates, Namibia (January 2022- January 2023)
