TIRI MASAWI
Namibia has expressed concern over declining numbers of tourists visiting the country which went down by 3.2% in the calendar year.
Minister of Environment Forestry and Tourism Indileni Daniel on Thursday said while tourism remains a pillar of the country’s economy, tourists arrivals in 2025 observed a slight decline of 3.2% with.
The decline saw 1,217,108 tourists arrivals compared to 1,257,093 recorded in 2024.
“While this marginal decrease may be viewed as statistically minor, we must treat it as a wake-up call and a clear signal to all of us to renew our focus and improve our competitiveness as a country to ensure that our value proposition continue to resonate with international travelers,” she said.
Daniel said the tourism landscape remained dynamic, shaped by economic pressures, shifting traveler preferences, increased competition amongst destinations and most importantly, safety and security of tourists.
“In this regard there is a need to invigorate demand in key and emerging source markets, enhance the overall visitor experience to encourage repeat travel, strengthen destination marketing with targeted data driven campaigns, invest in product development, and diversification of sustainable tourism products such as cruise and astro tourism to protect our natural and cultural assets,” she said.
According to Daniel Namibia is concerned that the decline is experienced in most of the key source markets such as Germany, South Africa and France.
“ This decrease can be traced to specific factors that transpired during the year under review. The safety concerns that made headlines in international and local print and social media, that is, incidents of crimes committed against our tourists. This is an issue of major concern that we simply cannot and should not tolerateM,” she said.
She said the delay in the implementation of the reviewed visa requirements by Ministry of Home Affairs, Immigration, Safety and Security might have also
contributed to the declining numbers.
“Despite this, the new visa requirements were necessary. Nonetheless, our task now is to find solutions to restore confidence in the Namibian brand. In order to address challenges affecting the industry,such as the Safety and Security of our tourists, the Ministry developed the National Spatial Tourism Masterplan,’ she said.
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