Visa regime may undo tourism wins

A move to revoke visa-free access to jurisdictions which do not offer Namibians visa-free entry could undo tourism wins the sector has been able to make as part of efforts to recover from the Covid-19 pandemic, the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) has warned.

This follows a Cabinet resolution to limit visa-free entry into Namibia to 30 jurisdictions in the Americas, Europe, Asia and even several African countries.

Giving its take on the decision to limit visa-free entry, the IPPR said it would particularly affect the tourism sector.

“The available statistical evidence strongly suggests that Namibia’s tourism sector was extremely hard-hit by the shock of the pandemic in 2020, but that it has made a steady recovery to a stage where it is now almost back at pre-pandemic levels of business,” it said.

“Many put this down to the exceptional collaboration between government and the industry over the past four years. The recent revocation of visa-free access for tourists from Namibia’s major tourist markets seems to fly in the face of this collaboration."

Point of concern

According to the IPPR, while tourism statistics were pointing to pre-pandemic levels, the liquidation of Air Namibia, as well as South African Airways’ (SAA) struggles, were a point of concern for ease of travelling into Namibia.

“International arrivals had fully recovered to pre-pandemic levels by 2023, but regional arrivals were still some way below those of 2019. This could also be related to the more limited regional flight availability following the liquidation of Air Namibia in 2020 and the problems faced by SAA,” the IPPR said.

The IPPR quarterly economic review special feature in the second quarter of 2021 reviewed some of the data on the role the tourism sector played in the national economy prior to lockdown and summarised some of the conclusions from three important international authorities on tourism: The World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC), the Organisation of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), and the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), all of which have published important work on the future of the international tourism industry.

“A main finding was that, globally, the tourism industry would take several years to recover from the pandemic and was only likely to return to its pre-pandemic state sometime in 2024. This feature provides updated information on Namibia’s tourism sector to examine to what extent this holds for Namibia too,” the IPPR said.