The coastal towns of Walvis Bay and Swakopmund received a boost, with the arrival of more than 2 000 tourists on the Queen Mary 2 Passenger Vessel.

The Queen Mary 2 passenger vessel docked at the Walvis Bay port bringing much-needed relief to businesses, which were hard hit following the outbreak of COVID-19.

This is but one of the six-passenger vessels expected to dock at the Walvis Bay harbour this month.

About 20 000 tourists arrived with other major passenger vessels last year in November, December as well as January 2023.

"We are very excited about this and we hope in the future it can remain like this, we are very happy, yesterday we also had the MSc orchestra and it wasn't the first time the MSc Orchestra visited our harbour and the previous week on Wednesday it came again and it was the same, it was huge," said tourism entrepreneur Aurelius Katjirua.

Tourism entrepreneur Dorothea Ockhuizen said they are so excited about these ships coming in the last few months because small businesses can gain something out of them and not only the transport industry but even the economy."

The vessel docked at the harbour for one day.