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| While the Namibia tourism sector has grown at a steady rate since independence in 1990, it has underperformed relative to regional competitors and it remains especially susceptible to seasonal fluctuations. Due to a lack of resources and a dedicated North American Sales Representative, the Namibian Tourism Board (NTB) has focused its efforts primarily on strategically engaging the European travel trade. As a result, the biggest challenge among the North American travel trade and travellers themselves is simply a lack of awareness. |
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The objective of the MCA-funded NADM Project is to grow the Namibian tourism industry with a focus on increasing income in households in communal conservancies, by carrying out an innovative, trade-focused marketing campaign to increase both arrivals from the North American market and the number of North American tourism businesses that offer tours and packages to Namibia.
To help achieve this, the Cardno team will work closely with the Namibia Tourism Board (NTB) and industry stakeholders to
- Develop and market itineraries that showcase tourism products and services offered by communal conservancies, joint ventures (JV), and locally developed and managed experiences throughout Namibia;
- Train Namibia’s tourism trade; build capacity among communities and JV projects to reach NA operators; and
- Conduct PR and a marketing campaign to increase recognition and awareness of Namibia’s offerings.
Solimar is specifically working to develop a series of online destination marketing tools that bring the Namibia positioning strategy to life and help educate, excite, and motivate the North American travel trade to work in partnership with the Namibian Tourism Board (NTB) to promote the country.
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Solimar is helping to carry out an innovative, trade-focused marketing campaign to increase both arrivals from the North American market and the number of the North American travel trade that offer tours and packages to Namibia. Solimar is working closely with the NTB and industry stakeholders to:
- Develop a suite of marketing campaigns and online tools focused on targeting specific groups of North American travelers with the greatest propensity to visit Namibia;
- Utilize the targeted marketing campaigns and online tools to strengthen partnerships between the North American trade and the NTB. They will also serve as an incentive for participation in the Namibian Academy—a destination specialist program created to equip the travel trade with the information needed to sell Namibia; and
- Utilize social media (including Facebook and Twitter) and mobile applications (apps) as platforms to help the NTB reach the North American market.
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EXPECTED OUTCOMES
The principal goal of the marketing campaign is to increase tourist arrivals to Namibia from North America, by expanding marketing of Namibia in the North American market through an intensive, innovative, trade-focused campaign over the next four years. Specific targets include:
• Working with Namibian and North American operators to expand existing and create new itineraries that include community-based tourism products, services, and joint-venture products;
• Significantly increasing North American tourist arrivals (target of 30,000 in 2013); and
• Nearly doubling the amount of North American operators offering Namibian packages (a target of 55 by 2013).
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