WINDHOEK – Namibia Wildlife Resorts (NWR)’s prospects are looking up since the beginning of this year.
According to NWR Managing Director, Zelna Hengari, “Since the beginning of the year, we have been running different specials such as the 75 percent discount and Sweet Sixteen Special with the aim of increasing our occupancy and income and the results are beginning to show a turn for the better.”
This comes after a wake up call by the Minister of Environment and Tourism Pohamba Shifeta, who demanded to see NWR become a profitable State-owned enterprise. Hengari said she was grateful for the minister’s sentiments, as she feels such advise can only guide her and her team to achieve their targets.
“It is quite good that the minister would like us to become profitable, as this has been one of my main goals since I was appointed. Since the beginning of the year, we have been urging all our resorts and camps to cut costs. I am therefore happy that the minister highlighted this,” said Hengari.
She made these remarks at a three-day workshop in Swakopmund last week. The workshop was hosted by the Ministry of Environment and Tourism, where the stage was set for NWR to seek ways of becoming a profitable State-Owned Enterprise (SOE).
Shifeta advised NWR to find ways to leverage its assets in order to generate more income from them. During the workshop, the minister availed the services of the Deputy Permanent Secretary and Tourism Director within his ministry to assist NWR in realising its goal .
The minister further emphasised that unity within the company was key in ensuring that they are able to meet their objectives. He stressed that it was therefore important that the board and management continually work together in order to ensure smooth operations at the company.
He urged the company to look at ways of ensuring that cost-cutting measures are put in place to avoid unnecessary spending.
Tourism SOEs include the NWR, Namibia Tourism Board (NTB), Windhoek Country Club Resort and Casino, as well as the Zambezi Waterfront and Tourism Park.
The NWR did not release annual financial reports for years, with reports for financial years 2005/2006, 2006/2007, 2007/2008, and 2008/2009 only tabled in 2009.
According to a report by the Auditor-General (AG) on the accounts of the MET for the financial year ended March 31, 2012, the NWR showed a balance of over N$34 million under “unclear suspense account balances”. The AG recommended that the accounting officer in the ministry make sure that all suspense accounts are reconciled with the ledger accounts and also that steps are constantly being taken to clear all items in the suspense accounts.
The MET also underspent its budget by more than N$48 million, representing about 6.06 percent for the financial year ended March 31, 2012.