2 NAMIB TIMES
COMMUNITY NEWS
23 SEPTEMBER 2016
namib Hospitality Association records times “best August”in a decade SERVING THE COASTAL COMMUNITY SINCE 1958 namib times is registered as a newspaper by the Ministry of Information Technology and Communication
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Erwin Leuschner With an average room occupancy of 71.7% recorded by Namibian tourism accommodation establishments across the country last month, this year's peak tourism month is officially the highest August occupancy recorded by the Hospitality Association of Namibia (HAN) in the last decade. “We definitely noticed the good tourism season at the coast,” said Almuth Styles from the tourism centre namib I in Swakopmund to namib times. According to the statistics released by HAN during the month of August 75.75% of the 6696 rooms available at the coast were occupied. “I know it is a successful season when I get walkin clients who wish to book accommodation and there is no more room available,” said Styles. Of the total 13 764 beds available at the coast 8 476 were occupied, making the bed occupancy slightly less at 61.58%. Styles also noticed that a lot of popular day activities for tourists, like desert tours or dolphin cruises, were also very high in demand this season so far. The main tourism season usually begins in August and runs until mid-November. “I noticed a lot more Italian, Belgian and Dutch tourists this August,” Styles continued. Based on the statistical records HAN holds of the past decade, German-speaking Europe still remains the largest source market for guests to accommodation establishments, with some 26,16% of guests to establishments in August over the past decade coming from either Germany, Austria or Switzerland. Namibians frequenting establishments over the past ten years were the second biggest group with 24,8% of all rooms occupied by Namibians in August, followed by South Africa, with close to 10% over the past decade. The average occupancy for Namibian tourism accommodation establishments in the peak travel month of August over the past ten years has been around 59,5%, making this year's
Construction Continued from page 1 Construction is expected to start within weeks. The construction period is between seven and eight months. It is the first phase of a bigger development which will in its second phase include a hotel, restaurant, shops, a gym and residential units. Total is the franchisor. The service station will be located next to the coastal road, at the old Langstrand entrance on Erf 162. The facility will also include the Bon Jour convenience store, standard with all Total retail fuel outlets.
result of 71,7% a clear indication of the positive trend the tourism sector is able to enjoy at present. Already in July, an increase of over 5% compared to 2015 was recorded – this year's high season in tourism for Namibia is promising to be one of the best ever. 2015 was a less successful year for Namibia tourism, (as well as for tourism in Southern Africa in general), with general occupancy in August sinking to a low of 60% only, causing some discouragement after the positive growth the previous year. Reasons for the slump were seen in the effects of the Ebola scare at the time, as well as restrictive visa and travel regulations imposed by South Africa.
Platz Am Meer Safari Investments had to rush with the finishing touches to open the mall on time. A symbolic, official opening with high-level dignitaries will take place at a later stage. Although the mall opened its doors to the public, some shops are still busy moving in and will only open during the course of next month. The first to open was the supermarket Checkers. Lessees that opened their doors yesterday include Woolworths, Signature Cosmetics, Christian Mobile Literature, Biltong den, KFC, Crazy store, VetSmart, Ackermans, Pep home, Pep Stores, Cape Union Mart, CNA, Studio 88, Shoe City, Clicks, Edgars, Avairy coffee shop, FNB, Uschi & Diane and Seeff. Other shops will open during the course of the next few days. These include Novacambios, Nanodaog, Execuspecs, Jaiting Sushi, Streethouse, Cross Trainer and the Healthy way clinic. Come end October Milky lane, Debonairs,
Namibia currently ranks high on the list of popular travel destinations across the globe, partly due to other popular destinations for European travellers, such as North Africa, Turkey and other parts of the Mediterranean fell out of favour due to political turmoil. HAN is confident that Namibia's popularity may even grow, if the tourism industry maintains its active marketing activities, ideally with more aggressive support and investment in destination marketing from government and other key stakeholders. “Now is the time to leverage on the positive momentum currently experienced, so as to reach the full potential of Namibia's tourism industry,” HAN states.
Continued from page 1 Steers, Fish aways, Monsieur Collections, The Vault Emporium, Pandora, Mugg & Bean, My Republik, Liquor city, Bluegrass Restaurant, French Cuisine, Cellulink, Asian Sun Restaurant, Bank Windhoek, Standard Bank and a Car Wash will also have opened their doors. Many shoppers visited the mall yesterday morning, with more and more visitors seeing the “Platz am Meer” in the afternoon. “This development is necessary to the town of Swakopmund,” said Swakopmund Constituency Councilor Juuso Kambueshe while walking through the mall. Ilse Marais from Safari Investments was very happy with the first day. “People are very positive,” she said to namib times. The Small Boat Harbour will be in use from this weekend onwards. If all small boats will be utilizing this new feature instead of the Mole, is not yet set in stone. “There is no directive at the present moment,” said municipal spokesperson Ailie Gebhardt to namib times. According to her the safety for the use of the boats will be appraised with the assistance of the small craft users and NamPort Directorate of Maritime Affairs. The mall itself is one of the biggest developments Swakopmund has experienced to date, with massive amounts of man hours being poured in. According to Safari Investments an average of 350 workers were present on the site each day working a total of about 920 00 man hours. For the development a total of 15 866 m³ of concrete was poured, while 2 764 951 bricks and 135 565 bags of cement were used. The mall also features a couple of “firsts” for the Erongo Region, including Single Roof tiles (bituminous product imported from Belgium), a Parking Water proofing system, exposed carpentry (European Spruce) and Walk Ways Translucent sheets (Honeycomb system imported from Europe).