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The Ministry of Atmosphere, Forestry and Tourism says it believes the visa regime for residents from international locations that don’t grant visa-free entry to Namibians can have minimal impression on the nation’s tourism business.
Nonetheless, ministry spokesperson Romeo Muyunda says they’ll assess how the state of affairs unfolds.
The brand new visa regime by the Ministry of House Affairs, Immigration, Security and Safety, accredited by Cupboard final month, confronted backlash from tourism gamers who raised concern over potential job, enterprise and alternative losses within the nation’s high foreign-currency-earning business.
“We imagine when this comes into impact, the impression on tourism could be minimal. We additionally imagine that vacationers would give you the option purchase visas upon arrival, which presents flexibility to our vacationers,” Muyunda says.
He says the ministry helps the necessity for reciprocity in worldwide relations.
The brand new visa regime will have an effect on guests from 37 international locations, together with Armenia, Australia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Hong Kong (SAR), Iceland, Indonesia, Eire, Italy, Jamaica, Japan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Macau (SAR), Mauritius, Moldova and the Netherlands.
Different international locations to be affected embody New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Russia, Seychelles, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Tanzania, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, the UK, america and Uzbekistan.
International locations with reciprocal visa preparations, akin to Angola, Botswana, South Africa and Zimbabwe, won’t be affected by the upcoming adjustments.
The SADC Enterprise Council Tourism Alliance added its voices towards Namibia’s new visa regime.
The tourism physique says the implementation of stricter visa necessities might have a detrimental impression on numerous sectors of Namibia’s economic system, together with tourism, hospitality, transportation and retail, all of which closely depend on worldwide guests.
It says a extra open visa coverage attracts a various vary of holiday makers, together with enterprise travellers, traders and vacationers who contribute to the economic system by way of spending, job creation and tax income.
“It hinders not solely leisure journey but in addition enterprise journey, conferences, occasions, schooling and commerce, thereby limiting general financial progress and growth,” SADC Enterprise Council Tourism Alliance venture lead Natalia Rosa says.
Rosa referred to as on the Namibian authorities to rethink these “restrictive” measures and have interaction in dialogue with stakeholders to search out options that stability safety issues with the necessity for financial progress and regional competitiveness.
“Namibia might look to profitable examples like Rwanda, which has seen important progress in its MICE (conferences, incentives, conferences and exhibitions) tourism sector resulting from visa liberalisation and funding in infrastructure,” Rosa says.
Rosa says Namibia’s new visa regime is puzzling because it is among the first international locations to introduce a distant working visa recognising the demand put up Covid-19, notably as SADC prepares to pilot its Univisa.
She says as a substitute of tightening visa restrictions, Namibia might discover various options, akin to implementing extra environment friendly visa processing programs (e.g., e-visas), focused visa waivers for particular teams or enhanced safety measures at borders.
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“All obstacles to entry for worldwide guests have to be critically examined and addressed to encourage longer stays, improve spending within the economic system and speed up the restoration of the tourism sector,” Rosa says.
Lately, Namibia Funding Promotion and Improvement Board chief govt Nangula Uaandja mentioned though there are two sides to this choice, there’s a case to be made for each the financial and political argument.
“Whereas I personally subscribe to the financial facet of the coin, I perceive the place cupboard is coming from and have had private experiences that make that case much more interesting. Due to this fact, I imagine our world companion international locations and guests from these international locations ought to actually use this choice to replicate on how they view, group, stereotype and deal with Africans. Possibly it’s time for a brand new dialog and a unique approach of engagement,” Uaandja mentioned.
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