Luxury lodges defy tourism slowdown
Namibia’s tented lodges were close to full in September, while conventional lodges remained well below their 2019 occupancy levels, according to new analysis by Simonis Storm.
The tented segment averaged 83.71% room occupancy in the third quarter, up 9.59 percentage points from a year earlier and above its 2019 level of 82.61%. In September, occupancy reached 90.3%.
Conventional lodges, by contrast, recorded average quarterly occupancy of 65.15%, more than eight percentage points below the 73.28% recorded in 2019.
The analysis draws on preliminary data from the Hospitality Association of Namibia (HAN). National room occupancy reached 66.49% in the third quarter, up from 65.31% a year earlier and above the 64.74% recorded in the same quarter of 2019.
The figures point to an uneven recovery across the accommodation sector, with premium properties outperforming some conventional establishments and camping businesses.
They also highlight a shift in the source-market mix. European visitors accounted for 68.26% of beds sold in the third quarter, up from 57.31% in 2019. Visitors from Germany, Austria and Switzerland accounted for 34.33%.
The share of beds sold to Namibian residents fell to 13.51%, from 22.73% in 2019, while the rest of Africa, including South Africa, accounted for 6.86%, down from 9.07%.
Camping demand also weakened. International campsite guests fell 17.9% to 21 311, while Namibian and Southern African Development Community campers declined 16.7% to 10 633.
The report suggests that price-sensitive self-drive and camping travellers are among the weaker segments, although the figures do not establish the reasons for the decline.
The currency has also become less favourable for European visitors. The euro traded at about N$18.6 to N$18.8 in September, compared with roughly N$20.2 a year earlier, reducing the Namibia-dollar value of each euro by around 7% to 8%.
For lodges charging in euros, the exchange-rate movement can reduce Namibia-dollar earnings per booking. Properties charging in Namibia dollars may also become more expensive for European guests when measured in euros.
Simonis Storm said revenue per available room may have increased faster than occupancy, but noted that HAN does not publish room-rate data to confirm this.
Additional European air services are expected to improve connectivity from 2027. Discover Airlines plans to increase Munich–Windhoek flights from three to five a week from April, while Condor is scheduled to return to the Frankfurt–Windhoek route in late June.
