WINDHOEK, July 25 (Xinhua) -- Namibia's Minister of Environment Forestry and Tourism Pohamba Shifeta on Monday said there was an increase of 40.9 percent in foreign arrivals from the total of 192,026 arrivals in 2020 to 270,644 arrivals in 2021.
Speaking on the occasion of the launch of the 2021 Annual Tourist Arrival Statistical Report, Shifeta also said domestic tourist arrivals had a substantial growth of 37.3 percent from 169,565 in 2020 to 232,756 in 2021.
"This growth is commendable considering the negative impacts of COVID-19 pandemic on the tourism sector globally in 2020 and 2021," he said.
Although the number of tourist arrivals is not at the level it was before the COVID-19 pandemic in 2019, an increase gives an improved hope that the sector is on its way to recovery, Shifeta said.
According to Shifeta, the African tourist source markets in 2021 were dominated by arrivals from South Africa, Zimbabwe, Zambia, and Botswana.
Overall, a high number of tourist arrivals was recorded in the last quarter of the past year, between October to December, accounting for 41.8 percent of the total tourist arrivals, he said, adding that there was an increase in the number of the average length of stay in Namibia to 24 days as compared to 19 days in 2020.
"The slight growth in tourists' numbers depicts raising confidence in the mind of tourists as Namibia is safe and ready for travel and tourism post-COVID-19," he said.
Namibia has developed a Tourism Recovery Plan that sets out a framework for the tourism sector recovery process for the next three years which provides targeted policy interventions, programs, and activities to be carried out to restore and support the Tourism sector.
Namibia recorded total tourist arrivals of 169,565 in 2020, down 89.4 percent in comparison to the 1,595,973 tourist arrivals in 2019. ■
