Chief Executive Officer of the Namibia Tourism Board (NTB) Digu ||Naobeb said Namibia’s tourism sector has recovered exponentially post COVID-19, with N.dollars 38 million collected thus far in tourism levies.
Speaking during a tour with local journalists aimed at increasing visibility throughout Namibia’s southern Kalahari route, ||Naobeb said the board was hoping for the sector to recover in 2024, however it awakened within two years with N.dollars 38 million collected in 2022 as compared to N.dollars 8 million in 2020 and N.dollars 18 million received in 2021.
||Naobeb however stressed that although the tourism levy is the board’s main stream of revenue, the government subsidy has declined drastically over the past five years from N.dollars 70 million to N.dollars 3 million, challenging the board’s operations to promote and market Namibia as a tourism destination holistically.
He indicated that currently the board only collects revenue from tourism accommodation establishments totalling over 3 000 businesses, excluding the regulated activities such as tour operators, shuttle and air operators and tourism activities operators.
“Worldwide tourism bodies mandated to promote destinations are 100 per cent funded by the government, in Namibia how the law was created, NTB was to be self-sufficient by collecting levies,” he noted.
||Naobeb informed that currently the board has submitted to the Ministry of Environment, Forestry and Tourism (MEFT) the provisional amended NTB Bill which will allow for all tourism businesses to register their licences annually to increase revenue.
In addition, he said the board will in the future consider tourism consulting service fees as currently they are offered for free amidst an increasing number of emerging tourism enterprises.
“Over the 3 000 establishments almost 50 per cent of them are in the self-catering category which are second homes owned by Namibians mostly in Swakopmund, Walvis Bay and Henties Bay, contributing a revenue below 1 per cent to the board as compared to hotel establishments who contribute largely to the levy,” he said.
The launched Tourism Arrival Statistics for 2021 on 25 July 2022 indicated that foreign arrivals into Namibia increased by 40.9 per cent from the total of 192 026 arrivals in 2020 to 270 644 arrivals in 2021. Tourist arrivals had a substantial growth of 37.3 per cent from 169 565 in 2020 to 232 756 in 2021.
Source: The Namibian Press Agency