By: Dwight Links
Room occupancy and room sale performance helped drive solid performance of the hospitality sector in the Namibian tourism industry for the third quarter period of July to September 2025.
This is according to the recent statistical review by the Hospitality Association of Namibia’s (HAN) Gitta Paetzold.
“The third quarter report of 2025 reflects positive growth compared to last year and 2019. The room occupancy in the third quarter of 2025 ended 2% higher than the corresponding period last year, and just under one percent higher than 2019,” the association noted.
The 133 participating establishments reflected the total number of rooms available and the rate of occupancy by paying tenants during this period.
Only the Coastal, Northern, Central, and Southern establishments participated in this market survey of the rate of consumption by tourists or visitors.
This indicates that a total of 253,798 rooms were available across the country, with the Northern establishments offering the most with 108,056 rooms, followed by the Southern operators with 78,017, then the Central businesses with 39,284, and the Coastal offering 28,441 units.
The national average of occupancy of these rooms was at 65%, as every section only had this average rate of occupancy during the three-month period under review.
“Central had a rate of 63.3% occupancy, as only 24,891 rooms were sold, and Coastal also had a similar average with 66.75%, as 18,984 were occupied. Northern, with the most units to offer, had 66.22%, as 71,557 were occupied. For the Southern operators, they came in with a 64.48% rate, as only 50,308 units were occupied during this time,” HAN explained in its review of the sector.
Paetzold noted that performance so far indicates that there is real growth from last year’s period and month under review.
“Based on a total of over 80 individual reports received for September in the meantime, the adjusted average occupancy last month stands at 66.57%, which is 4% higher than last year, and just one percent down on 2019,” Paetzold added on this performance.
EUROPEAN MARKETS LEAD
According to the data, this growth was carried by the European tourist markets, leading this performance, followed by the local Namibian consumption coming in second.
“Again, the strongest performing markets for Namibia remain central Europe, with healthy growth in the established markets of France, Italy, Germany, Austria and Switzerland, [which is] a clear sign of the benefit of direct airlinks between the destination and key source markets,” the association explained.
These markets alone provided 157,673 visitors during this period, while Namibia and the SADC countries provided 64,740 visitors.
Other African nations contributed 4,280 visitors during this period.
These data sets work independently from any immigration statistics coming from the immigration department of the Home Affairs ministry.
Other areas which provided good occupancy numbers were the Scandinavian visitors who provided 1,522, Spain and Portugal collectively provided 8,259, and Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg, along with other European nations supplying 29,510 visitors.
HAN notes that the strong performance is directly tied to having reliable air linkages to the Namibian tourism market, which allows for occupancy rates to be well served. The opposite of this also makes it precarious for the market, according to the body.
“Limited air access remains Namibian tourism’s key constraint to growth, though, and based on indications from some of the key operators in Namibia, forward bookings for the year 2026 are coming in much slower than in the past, partly due to high air fares, as well as uncertainty due to world politics at present,” HAN indicated.
The association aims to keep a positive outlook on the next year in the hopes of improved conditions.
“But for now, let us celebrate the successful results of the high season just passed, which will hopefully see many positive posts about the unique experiences visitors had in Namibia, and help build Brand Namibia going forward,” Paetzold added.
