Ecotourism finds funding in African nation of Namibia

Namibia has been chosen as the first US-based Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) client to receive a $70 million ecotourism grant in an effort to establish the nation as one of Africa’s leading tourism economies within ten years.

The dollar amount is a fraction of the full $305 million being allocated by the MCC to develop education, tourism and agriculture in Namibia.

According to the Namibian Government, tourism is an important generator of employment, particularly in rural areas. With the grant in place, international tourism generated 15.6% of total exports ($650.6 million) in 2008 and are expected to grow to 22.6% ($2,092.8 million) by 2018. Meanwhile, the contribution of travel and tourism to the gross domestic product is expected to increase from 14.5% ($1,051.7 million) in 2008 to 20.7% ($2,967.9 million) by 2018 and from 18.2% (77,000 jobs) to 23.7% (129,000 jobs) of total employment in that same period.

While the tourism industry in Namibia has enjoyed steady growth since independence in 1990, Namibia has lagged behind relative to regional competitors despite its abundance of natural eco-tourism assets and relative political stability.

Compared to South Africa’s 9.2 million international visitors in 2007, Namibia received less than 1 million international visitors in the same year.

Building for success

The MCC grant will enable Namibia to become one of Africa’s leading tourism economies over the next decade.

According to the WTTC, growth in the travel and tourism economy of the country will rank the Namibia tourism industry 8th out of 176 countries, with a major focus on the Etosha National Park ($40.5m), marketing activity ($8.26m) and conservancy support ($18.19m).

For more information, visit www.mca.gov.na.