The local tourism industry sees the easing of Covid-19 restrictions by South Africa as a huge step forward for travel into Southern Africa as a whole, and for Namibia.
South Africa, as a transit hub, has been important for Namibia and the region, given the limited air access capacity Namibia has had with direct flights from international markets.
Covid-19 has decimated the tourism industry.
The 2019 tourist statistical report recorded 1.6 million foreign travellers to Namibia. After the detection of local coronavirus cases in March 2020, Namibia (and most other countries) closed its borders, to curb the spread of the virus, and only welcomed 169 565 tourists in 2020 while 233 692 arrived in 2021 according to the ministry of environment and tourism, in a January 2022 statement.
Namibia this month also relaxed Covid-19 restrictions, which included removing mandatory wearing of masks in public places. However, people who are in close settings, such as public transport, indoor public meetings are encouraged to wear masks.
During the last national Covid-19 update on 15 March 2022, President Hage Geingob increased the size of public gatherings from 500 to 1 000 while emphasising the physical distance of no less than one metre must be maintained between persons at all times.
Geingob also announced fully vaccinated travellers will no longer be required to produce a negative PCR test result upon arrival at Namibian points of entry but are instead required to present an authentic, valid vaccination card at the point of entry.
South African president Cyril Ramaphosa this week also relaxed almost all remaining coronavirus restrictions as the number of new infections and related hospitalisations and deaths in the country continues to drop.
Contacted for comment, the Hospitality Association of Namibia (HAN) CEO Gitta Paetzold welcomed the move by both countries.
“It is definitely moving forward, and the latest announcement by South Africa lifting some more Covid restrictions is a huge step forward for travel into Southern Africa as a whole, and for Namibia, as some of our travellers are using South Africa as a transit point to get to Namibia. Before South Africa lifted the requirement for PCR tests for the vaccinated, it was seen as a barrier to travellers, whose end destination was Namibia, where Namibia had already lifted that requirement,” she observed.
Therefore, she said the announcement that Qatar Airways would be returning to Namibia in May promises great relief to bottlenecks experienced for bookings for the high season (July - November).
Another excellent news that came this week is that Eurowings would increase its flights to Namibia to 10 times a week during the high season.
The airline would also allow travel between Namibia and Zimbabwe from April, connecting Namibia to the iconic Victoria Falls and allowing Namibians to make use of the Eurowing connection.
“This is major news as it really builds on the capacity of air access into Namibia,” Paetzold said.
In addition to welcomed direct flights to Namibia, she stated Airlink with its 45 flights into Namibia from South Africa per week is also a very important and impactful air carrier for the tourism and business sector. Airlink connects Johannesburg and Cape Town with Windhoek and Walvis Bay several times a week, and provides convenient connections into the whole of Southern Africa and beyond.
Airlink has international partnership agreements with major international airlines, including Air France; British Airways; KLM; Cathy Pacific; Delta Airlines; TAAG Angola; Kenia Airways; Qatar Airways; United Airlines; Lufthansa; Swiss Airlines; Emirates; LAM, and Virgin Atlantic.
On this note, she said the world is well connected to Namibia and Namibia connected to the world, and this is what everyone should be building on going forward.
In view of domestic travel, she reported Namibia has seen an upsurge during 2021 when the rest of the world was largely locked out due to the pandemic.
However, she said Namibia through the tourism sector, the Namibia Tourism Board (NTB), and the environment and tourism ministry are committed to keep promoting domestic travel. This she said is important for Namibians to get to know and appreciate the beauty of their own country, and for that, seasonal and special rates have been and will be made available.
“However, for the tourism sector to recover and sustain itself, the return of a healthy international travel market is vital as it is through the international travellers that forex is imported into Namibia and money generated outside the country invested in Namibia, helping to build not only our tourism sector but the economy as a whole,” she said.
– anakale@nepc.com.na