By Catherine Sasman
ONGWEDIVA
Despite the tourism boom in the country over the last three years, Governor of the Oshana Region, Clemens Kashuupulwa, has expressed concern that tourism is predominantly based on “business tourism”.
He said the region greatly needs to diversify and promote new types of attractions such as heritage and cultural tourism, adding that shopping centres, hotels and other commercial entities should be encouraged to bring arts exhibitions, local performances and other cultural events into their sphere of operation.
To diversify the tourism sector in the region, he said, new types of attractions such as heritage and cultural tourism should be promoted.
Other areas and tourism products deserving of development, he said, are camping facilities, cultural shows, and village tours in cooperation with tour operators, visitor information centres, the Namibia Tourism Board (NTB) and other bodies.
“It is imperative and uncompromising that we must ensure that areas or attractions frequented by tourists, be it foreign or Namibians, are safe, clean and not overcrowded,” he said, speaking at an NTB workshop with small and medium tour operators in the Oshana and Ohangwena regions to discuss tourism investment opportunities and funding.
He said services at local hotels, bed and breakfast establishments and restaurants should become more customer-oriented and supported by well-trained employees able to communicate with visitors.
The town of Ongwediva has seen the development of a number of hotels, guesthouses and B&B accommodation establishments over the last few years, with a more recent entertainment park and lodge, Benny’s, as well as a state-of-the art Ongwediva Medipark health facility.
Of concern, said the governor, is the mushrooming of accommodation establishments under the “rent-a-room” concept, which he said is becoming increasingly “uncontrollable”, and “substandard” and in an “uninhabitable state”.
“If we are not careful with this, it will undermine the very tourism that we want to attract to this area,” he warned.
Kashuupulwa said it is necessary to develop an integrated tourism growth strategy to benefit the majority of Namibians and not only a few individuals or groupings.
“To achieve this, focus should be given to SME development, which remains the backbone of Namibia’s economic development and prosperity,” he said.