WALVIS BAY – Swakopmund and Walvis Bay will be abuzz starting from tomorrow as thousands of tourists are expected to visit the two coastal towns within the next three months.
The tourists will arrive via eight passenger liners that are expected to make port calls until the end of the year.
Namport commercial acting executive Justina Evelinus yesterday indicated that the MS Albatros passenger liner, which departed Germany on 27 September, will be the first passenger vessel docking at the port on Friday.
Six more passenger vessels – the Voyager, the Boudicca, the Bremen, the Katharine, the Queen Elizabeth, the Aidamira – will also sail to Walvis Bay before the end of the year.
She added that Namport is also gearing up for the arrival of 17 more passenger liners in the first quarter of 2020.
“The docking of passenger vessels is not only beneficial to Namport as the receiving entity, but also for the tourism industry and more so to the Namibian economy as the successful hosting of international visitors is dependent on the teamwork of all local stakeholders who receive the guests. The local stakeholders range from the transport sector to tourist attraction facilities, handcraft vendors as well as local shopping malls within Walvis Bay,” she explained.
Namport is in the process of constructing a dedicated passenger liner jetty as part of the authority’s infrastructure development projects.
The jetty is expected to be completed before the end of the year, further opening doors for Namibia as a passenger liner destination.