Namibia tourism stats slowly catching up

THE Namibian Tourism Board recently released tourism statistics for 2002, which indicated a 10% increase in visitors compared with 2001. However, the country was still a full year behind in releasing up-to-date tourism stats. The board said that in 2002, a total of 947 768 foreigners visited Namibia compared with 861 184 in 2001. Of these 80% (757 201) were tourists. The number of tourists increased by 13% from 670 446 in 2001 to 757 201 in 2002. Key markets for Namibia remained Angola, South Africa, Germany, Botswana, Zimbabwe and the UK. The board said that the growth of 15,5% in Europe’s share of tourists was very positive in light of the economic slowdown, September 11, emerging competing destinations and international conflicts which pose questions of safety and security for tourists. The average length of stay for 2002 was 19 days compared with the average of 18 days recorded for 2001. Most tourists still arrive by road (75,4%) while 24,2% arrived by air in 2002. (Miguel de Sousa)