Windhoek
Authorities at Henties Bay say they are willing to do whatever it takes to keep beachfront camps in the vicinity open in order to reap the annual economic benefits they bring during the festive season.
This follows a recent announcement by Namibia Wildlife Resorts (NWR) that a number of campsites, including Jakkalsputz, Mile 14, Mile 72 and Mile 108 would be closed to the public during the holiday period.
“The Henties Bay Municipality is willing to assist NWR in whatever they need in order to ensure the campsites stay open during the festive season,” said chief executive officer of the Henties Bay Municipality, Reinhardt Ochs.
“Henties Bay will really be hard-hit economically if these campsites close. We are keeping our fingers crossed that news will come that the camps will remain open.”
Speaking to New Era yesterday, Ochs noted that visitors and tourists provide a tremendous and necessary boost to both the Henties Bay community and local businesses. He added that the expected economic benefits would not be realised if the camps are closed.
Meanwhile, in a recent statement, NWR encouraged clients that have already made plans to camp at the aforementioned sites to make use of either Torra Bay or Terrace Bay as alternative campsites during the upcoming holidays.
Ochs questioned the viability of these alternatives, saying it would be difficult to divert visitors or tourists to Torra Bay and Terrace Bay, unless they have already planned on these as their holiday destinations.
Furthermore, Ochs was perturbed at learning of the closure of campsites through the media. “I would really have liked NWR to inform us ahead of time. To most of us it was really a shock because we learned of the news through the media,” he said.
“We saw the need to close them (the camps) in order to do some minor rehabilitation”, explained NWR’s manager of corporate communications, Mufaro Nesongano. “At the moment we are yet to finalise the way forward on how we will undertake the rehabilitation and how the financing will occur”, he added.