Namibian tourism stakeholders gathered in the capital on Monday for a workshop to finalise two important strategies, which are aimed at clearly designing a road map for Namibia as a competitive destination.
The Ministry of Environment and Tourism invited key stakeholders to a national consultation workshop for the verification and the validation of the National Sustainable Tourism Growth Strategy and the National Tourism Investment Profile and Promotion Strategy.
The Deputy Minister of Environment and Tourism, Pohamba Shifeta, said at the opening of the workshop that the aims are to identify any critical gaps and loopholes that may not have been addressed in the documents, as well as to strengthen, verify and validate the actions and strategies proposed in the documents.
Shifeta said the ministry and government wants to put in place strategies that provide a holistic and co-ordinated approach to ensure that growth and development in the tourism sector is recorded and noticed not just in Namibia, but also in Africa.
According to him, the Fourth National Development Plan 4 (NDP4) requires that the Namibian tourism industry must become the most competitive tourist destination in Africa by 2017 and its ranking must increase from being the third in Sub-Saharan Africa to becoming number one.
“These goals are achievable. Overall, Namibia has a strategic advantage in terms of tourism development and growth in the Southern African region with a well-developed infrastructure, good communications systems, efficient financial sector, rich cultural diversities, and unique landscape and wilderness areas,” Shifeta said.
He added that Namibia is also well-known as a country with proper and advanced policy and regulatory frameworks.
“The question we must ask is whether on the ground we are good? Our excellent policy framework is a big challenge when it comes to practical implementation on the ground.”
He said that in recognition of the crucial role and importance of tourism in the national economic development, the ministry commissioned the development and formulation of the two strategies.
According to Shifeta, extensive consultations at the national, regional and local levels were held as part of preparations of these two documents since 2011.
The ministry is aiming to finalise the two documents before the end of the year.
The documents will cover a ten year period, and outlines the monitoring and evaluation plans and a long-term sustainability of the tourism sector. The strategies provide a framework to foster coordination and collaboration across public and private sectors.
These documents will guide the sector to take advantage of the opportunities available to address challenges that could obstruct progress.
“We hope that this consultation workshop will enable the ministry to formulate implementable strategies that will be translated into action and not simply lie idle on shelves and gather dust,” said Shifeta.
The implementation of these two strategies will be guided by the principles of the National Policy on Tourism as well as private sector driven implementation, the culture of hospitality and excellent focus on priority markets that ensures the highest return on investment customer service and also focus on sustainability.
“What we must understand is that tourism is everyone’s business and that means generating money should be everyone’s business. This money generated by tourism will translate into roads, clinics, schools, empowerment of the individual and the collective as well as increase in Gross Domestic Product (GDP),” according to Shifeta.
The Ministry of Environment and Tourism invited key stakeholders to a national consultation workshop for the verification and the validation of the National Sustainable Tourism Growth Strategy and the National Tourism Investment Profile and Promotion Strategy.
The Deputy Minister of Environment and Tourism, Pohamba Shifeta, said at the opening of the workshop that the aims are to identify any critical gaps and loopholes that may not have been addressed in the documents, as well as to strengthen, verify and validate the actions and strategies proposed in the documents.
Shifeta said the ministry and government wants to put in place strategies that provide a holistic and co-ordinated approach to ensure that growth and development in the tourism sector is recorded and noticed not just in Namibia, but also in Africa.
According to him, the Fourth National Development Plan 4 (NDP4) requires that the Namibian tourism industry must become the most competitive tourist destination in Africa by 2017 and its ranking must increase from being the third in Sub-Saharan Africa to becoming number one.
“These goals are achievable. Overall, Namibia has a strategic advantage in terms of tourism development and growth in the Southern African region with a well-developed infrastructure, good communications systems, efficient financial sector, rich cultural diversities, and unique landscape and wilderness areas,” Shifeta said.
He added that Namibia is also well-known as a country with proper and advanced policy and regulatory frameworks.
“The question we must ask is whether on the ground we are good? Our excellent policy framework is a big challenge when it comes to practical implementation on the ground.”
He said that in recognition of the crucial role and importance of tourism in the national economic development, the ministry commissioned the development and formulation of the two strategies.
According to Shifeta, extensive consultations at the national, regional and local levels were held as part of preparations of these two documents since 2011.
The ministry is aiming to finalise the two documents before the end of the year.
The documents will cover a ten year period, and outlines the monitoring and evaluation plans and a long-term sustainability of the tourism sector. The strategies provide a framework to foster coordination and collaboration across public and private sectors.
These documents will guide the sector to take advantage of the opportunities available to address challenges that could obstruct progress.
“We hope that this consultation workshop will enable the ministry to formulate implementable strategies that will be translated into action and not simply lie idle on shelves and gather dust,” said Shifeta.
The implementation of these two strategies will be guided by the principles of the National Policy on Tourism as well as private sector driven implementation, the culture of hospitality and excellent focus on priority markets that ensures the highest return on investment customer service and also focus on sustainability.
“What we must understand is that tourism is everyone’s business and that means generating money should be everyone’s business. This money generated by tourism will translate into roads, clinics, schools, empowerment of the individual and the collective as well as increase in Gross Domestic Product (GDP),” according to Shifeta.
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