Staff Reporter
THE Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Namibia Tourism Board (NTB) Digu //Naobeb has rubbished reports that the institution is insolvent, adding that revenue collections have improved since the height of Covid-19.
The institution which receives most of its revenue from levies collected from tourist establishments it regulates has however said that annual license registration charges need to be introduced for tourism establishments due to declined state contributions to the NTB.
“When you look at levy collections of the NTB, in 2019, we collected about N$ 48 million, in 2020, it went down to N$ 8 million, 2021 it went to N$ 18 million, for 2022 we have collected levies worth about N$ 38 million. There has been an exponential recovery,” //Naobeb said.
The CEO explained that tourism boards in Botswana as well as South Africa do not collect levies and is funded by their governments.
“SA’s regulatory body does not collect levies and is funded by government to the tune of about N$ 2 billion. In Namibia, the NTB is self-sufficient by collecting levies as well as payments for registering business licenses. However, in terms of the new bill which we have submitted to the line ministry and are waiting on approval for, there has to be an annual license registration fee introduced as opposed to the once off payment, for us to up our revenue, alongside the collecting levies. Government contributions to the NTB has decreased to N$3 million for the last five years, as opposed to the N$ 70 million we received when we were first established,” //Naobeb said.
In terms of how the local tourism industry is performing, the CEO said that before Covid in 2019, Namibia hovered around 1.5 million international tourists’ arrivals.
He added that most of these tourists came from Germany and other European countries, and South Africa. However, travelling during the Covid-19 pandemic was more restricted due to PCR tests, thus more local tourists frequented our establishments //Naobeb said.
“In 2022, we are seeing an upsurge in international travel, however, it is not rebounding due to air access restrictions. Currently most international flights are with Euro Wings, Qatar and Ethiopian airlines. The hamstring we face is the uplift out of Johannesburg and Cape town as we only have SA air links. Hopefully, by the 8th of December 2022, we will have South African airways coming back on board, and the frequency of flights will be increased,” //Naobeb said.
Touching on impediments affecting local tourism, the CEO explained that the NTB’s research has shown that pricing is an issue that hinders Namibians in travelling.
“We are planning a tourism symposium from the 6th to the 7th of December to see how we can be more competitive in terms of pricing policy approaches. In Namibia we are still charging for example N$ 700 per person per night sharing a room, whilst in Europe two people can be accommodated in the same room for N$ 700. We need to move away from these draconian policies and move with the world,” //Naobeb urged.
The CEO further advised Namibians to make use of camping facilities when visiting tourist destinations in the country as they have charges as low as N$250 for an overnight stay.
