International tourist arrivals at Sossusvlei have increased in 2022 compared to the past two years.
The COVID-19 pandemic wrecked the sector, and there will be no tourist arrivals in 2020.
Sossusvlei in southern Namibia is internationally famous for having spectacular landscapes.
Tourists flock here to see and climb some of the tallest sand dunes in the world.
The area is home to Deadvlei, where ancient dead camelthorn trees are found, and it is a paradise for photographers.
However, international travel restrictions, introduced due to the COVID-19 pandemic, prevented tourists from visiting the area.
Two years later, establishments here are relieved because business is picking up.
"We had some initiatives like local is lekker over the weekends when we had good rains in the desert here. So many locals supported us very nicely, which we are thankful for, and then at the beginning of this year, around March or April, the foreign tourists started coming back to Namibia. We had some good months from July until October, November, and now it's a little bit quieter again," said Karl-Heinz Oosthuizen, from Taleni Africa.
Another happy person from the industry is Erastus Kashikola, the restaurant supervisor at NWR Sesriem. "Like now, things are picking up, so like the 1st of June, it was our high season. Then it was our high season before the world cup in June, July, August, September, and October because most Europeans went back for the world cup, but now that their country has gone out, they are returning as well. And we're expecting some South Africans next week because it's now vacation time, and they're on their way to the coast, passing through here on their way."
Some of the biggest lessons the lodge operators have learned from the COVID pandemic were to use their savings sparingly and to introduce packages for the local market.
"Everybody thinks that in tourism, we people have big bank accounts and the money is always coming in, but that's not the case. We in tourism are really dependent on the beds that we sell. So, at the end of the day, if you don't sell a bed, you don't have income, and COVID obviously gave us no income for two and a half years. So you really need to manage and see, plan ahead in terms of when you need to renovate the lodge and when you need to put back money."
"We are happy with our locals; we have another group we call 'my friend is cooler than yours', which is our locals, so we have to introduce that to the locals so they can come because the Europeans were not coming."