Africa-Press – Namibia. NAMIBIA’S tourism sector stands to benefit from the continued weakening of Covid-19 to a less severe form, as this will give tourists and locals more freedom to travel.
According to a report by Simonis Storm Securities, virologists predict that future Covid-19 variants will be less severe and gravitate to being a seasonal disease, which people will simply have to live with.
According to some researchers, Omicron could hasten the Covid-19 virus’ transition from pandemic to endemic, with many believing the Covid-19 virus will never disappear altogether.
“One implication of this, however, is that regular vaccinations and antiviral pill treatments will become part of life in order to make future variants less severe,” Simonis said.
Namibia recorded 18 787 new Covid cases in December 2021, compared to 281 new cases recorded in November 2021 – an increase of 6 586% m/m, while the 9 561 new cases recorded in December 2020 represent a rise of 96% y/y.
A total of 60 Covid-19-related deaths were recorded in December 2021, compared to 20 in November 2021, a 200% rise m/m and 54 in December 2020 (up 11% y/y).
Namibia has about 355 000 individuals who are fully vaccinated, representing about 14,2% of the population.
“If we continue at the current rate, only 21% of the population will be fully vaccinated by the end of 2022. Our low vaccination rate will continue to keep conservative or cautious tourists from visiting our country,” said Simonis.
With growing signs that Omicron is less severe than Delta, Namibia experienced some relief when the country was removed from international travel ban lists in December 2021.
Tourists visiting Namibia over the festive season enjoyed a fairly normal holiday in the country, without a curfew or a reduction in alcohol sales trading hours.
From 103 nationwide establishments, a national occupancy rate of 32,5% was recorded in the fourth quarter of 2021 compared to 17,0% in the third, and 19,5% in the fourth quarter of 2020, according to the Hospitality Association of Namibia.
December 2021 recorded a national occupancy rate of 27,8% compared to 35,1% in November 2021 and 28,6% in December 2020.
“A meaningful recovery in the tourism sector has yet to materialise as the occupancy rates in the fourth quarter of 2021 are about a third of occupancy rates seen in 2019’s fourth quarter,” said Simonis.
During December 2021, 66,3% of visitors at local establishments were Namibians, indicating that locals continue to take advantage of specials and discounted packages on offer.
“Most foreign tourists who visited local establishments during December 2021 travelled from South Africa (11,0%), Benelux (1,9%), France (1,8%), other SADC countries, excluding South Africa and Angola (0,96%) and the UK and Ireland (0,85%).”
Regarding purpose of travel into Namibia, 91,8% came for leisure, 4,7% for business and 3,5% for conferences.
Hospitality establishments at the coast have seen the fastest recovery in occupancy rates, followed by the central area. A total of 63 555 international passengers arrived at Hosea Kutako International Airport (HKIA) during 2021, compared to 46 342 in 2020 and 215 155 in 2019.
December 2021 recorded 4 844 international arrivals, compared to 10 393 in the prior month, a drop of 53,4% m/m and 4 711 a year ago, rising 2,8% y/y. On average, HKIA received 5 296 international arrivals per month in 2021, compared to 17 930 per month in 2019 on average (70% below pre-pandemic levels).
“We remain positive in seeing double digit growth in the hotels and restaurants sector in 2022 as countries across the globe ease travel and quarantine restrictions.
“Of course, international travel will be a lot easier for fully vaccinated individuals.
“Namibia is unlikely to enforce a vaccination passport to foreign travellers, given our low vaccination rates among the Namibian population and struggling tourism industry,” said Simonis.
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