Tourism in Namibia

 Tourism in Namibia

Tourist destinations

Windhoek

Windhoek, the capital and biggest city, is the main entrance point for people flying into the country, usually at Windhoek Hosea Kutako International Airport. Important tourist sites in Windhoek include: the Tintenpalast, (which is the seat of both the National Council and the National Assembly), Windhoek Country Club Resort (opened in 1995 as host to the Miss Universe 1995 and is one of the premier hotels and golf tournaments in the country), Zoo Park and other places. Windhoek also has the first five star hotel in the country known as Hilton Windhoek (opened in 2011 marking Hilton's 50th hotel in the Middle East and Africa.)

Walvis Bay

Walvis Bay, as the fourth biggest town in Namibia, is host to the main port of the country, as well as the Walvis Bay International Airport. Geographically the town is uniquely situated, as it is the meeting place of extreme landscapes – on the one side the Namib desert, the oldest desert in the world, and on the other side a massive lagoon and harbor flowing from the Atlantic Ocean. Both of these landscapes lend themselves towards some of the most unusual sightseeing opportunities in Namibia.The lagoon and harbour is home to various species and large numbers of sea mammals and bird life. The Namib desert on the other side is called "The Living Desert", because of the large number of living species found there.Walvis Bay is one of many tourism activity centers of Namibia. Activities include various water-related actions, like shore angling, boat angling, shark angling, sightseeing and photographic boat cruises, sea kayaking and wind- and kite surfing. Walvis Bay yearly houses one of the international legs of speed kite and windsurfing.Land activities include Sandwich Harbour sightseeing tours, desert sightseeing tours, 4X4 dune driving tours into the massive dunes south of the Kuiseb river, dune hang gliding, dune boarding and dune skiing, guided educational, historic and anthropologic quad biking tours into the Kuiseb Delta, visits to the Topnaar people, descendants of the Khoin-Khoin, and living desert tours.

Swakopmund

Swakopmund is a beach resort and an example of German colonial architecture. It was founded in 1892 as the main harbour for German South-West Africa. Attractions include spectacular sand dunes near Langstrand south of the Swakop River. The city is known for extreme sports. Nearby is a farm that offers camel rides to tourists and the Martin Luther steam locomotive, dating from 1896 and abandoned in the desert.The Desert Express, a TransNamib tourist train, runs between Windhoek and Swakopmund.The Swakopmund Skydiving Club has operated from the Swakopmund Airport since 1974.

National Parks

Namibia has many prominent National Parks, the oldest, most visited and best known is Etosha National Park. Other national parks in Namibia are:

• Namib-Naukluft
• Skeleton Coast
• Ai-Ais/Richtersveld Transfrontier Park with Fish River Canyon and Ai-Ais Hot Springs
• Waterberg Plateau Park

In November 2012, the Namibian government approved the renaming of the Sperrgebiet National Park to Tsau ǁKhaeb (Sperrgebiet) National Park. Tsau ǁKhaeb derives from the local Nama language and means "deep sandy soils".

Kaokoveld

Koakoveld (also known as 'Kaokoland'), remains one of the country's most pristine regions.Puros Lodge and Okahirongo Elephant Lodge offer accommodation in an area regularly visited by desert elephants.

The Namibia Tourism Board

The Namibia Tourism Board (NTB) was established by an Act of Parliament: the Namibia Tourism Board Act, 2000 (Act 21 of 2000). Its primary objectives are to regulate the tourism industry and to market Namibia as a tourist destination. As a statutory body, the NTB is the only legal national tourism organization or authority in Namibia mandated by Government to regulate the industry.The following sectors of business within or relating to the Namibian tourism industry are sectors that are regulated by the Namibia Tourism Board.

• Accommodation Establishments
• Activity Operators
• Air charter operators
• Booking agents
• Conference centre operators
• Foreign tour operators
• Shuttle and transport service operators
• Tour facilitators
• Tour and safari operators
• Trophy hunting operators
• Vehicle rental operators