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The peak tourism season continued to perform strongly this year, with a total of 49,534 visitors to Australia in July.
This is the highest number recorded this year and the highest since October 2023, although it is still below the level in 2019, when the total was over 60,000, according to Simonis Storm’s hotel statistics report.
The report said that of the more than 49,000 passengers, 44% were international, 45% were regional and the remaining 11% were domestic. “It is noteworthy that July was the highest month for international passengers this year, while domestic passenger numbers were the second lowest on record in 2024.”
In contrast, the report noted a decline in passenger outbound travel last month, mainly due to a drop in international departures as tourists returned to their home countries.
Low engagement
The national occupancy rate was 59.7% in July this year, down slightly from 60.8% in July 2023 and very close to 59.6% in July 2019.
The report showed that the northern region had the highest occupancy rate at 62.8%, followed by the central region (60.8%), the coastal region (59.8%) and the southern region (56.5%).
“It is noteworthy that the participation of the central and coastal regions in the hotel industry statistical reports has been low. In July 2024, only three participants from the central region contributed data, while there were 24 participants in July 2019,” Simonis Storm pointed out.
The report also said that leisure tourism remained the main driver of tourist inflow, accounting for 91.7% of tourists staying in hotels across Namibia. Most of these leisure tourists chose to explore the northern and southern regions.
When it comes to accommodation, they mainly choose bed and breakfasts, hotels, hostels and tent camps.
In July, the number of tourists staying in hotels for business purposes increased significantly, accounting for 8.2% of the total number of tourists nationwide, up from 2.1% in the previous month, indicating a return to pre-epidemic levels. The report said that business travelers mainly favor hotels in the central region; however, the occupancy rate for conference purposes remained low.
Europeans dominate
As usual, European tourists accounted for the largest share of the total number of tourists, accounting for 66.3%, followed by Namibian tourists at 16.4%. Simonis Storm found that the proportion of Namibian tourists decreased from 22.55% in June, which may be because it is not the holiday season in Namibia, which usually leads to a decrease in the number of domestic tourists in these months.
Visitors from South Africa accounted for 6.3% of the total, while visitors from North America accounted for 5%. Visitors from Asia accounted for 2.7%, and the rest of Africa accounted for 1.7%. The rest of the world accounted for a smaller share, with South America accounting for 0.6% and the Middle East accounting for 0.3%.
The report noted that a striking phenomenon was that the number of tourists from the Benelux countries (Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg) reached a record high of 11.6%, the highest level in five years.
According to the Namibian Hotels Association, July and August are traditionally the peak tourist season for the EU. “While there has been a slight drop in French tourists (perhaps due to the Olympics and other events), the Benelux market has filled the void. This trend reflects the strong market presence of Benelux tourists, and is also driven by targeted efforts by product providers to target this demographic.”
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