Participants at the regional consultation on the revised National Policy on Sustainable Tourism Development have called for stronger implementation mechanisms, greater community involvement and improved law enforcement within Namibia's tourism sector.
The consultation, held in Katima Mulilo, brought together tourism stakeholders, community representatives and government officials to deliberate on proposed changes to the policy.
The councillor for Katima Urban Constituency, Kennedy Simasiku, stressed the need for a clear five-year implementation framework to give structure to the policy, supported by regular monitoring and evaluation measures.
"To ensure that whatever we agree should be in the policy must be achieved within that specific period so that we evaluate at the end to see how far we go, where we failed and what improvements need to be done in the next policy."
He further noted the need to emulate strategies from neighbouring countries that have been doing well in the sector, such as Zimbabwe and Botswana.
Further emphasis was also placed on the importance of inclusive consultations.
Charity Sihope is Zambezi Regional Council's Deputy Director for Rural Services.
"The traditional authorities are the ones that would give any operator land to operate on, land for whatever tourism thing that you do, so it's very important that we cite traditional authority there, whether as a standalone body or through the ministry of urban and rural development."
Constituency Councillor for Kongola Bennety Busihi adds, "This community awareness should be done simultaneously so that our local communities need to understand the importance of tourism. I know in the Mudumu landscape, where we have lodges near Kwando and Linyanti, I'm not sure if there is a floodplain, but there are a lot of break-ins in those lodges, so that means tourists are not happy."
A local businessman, Dobson Kwala, questioned the effectiveness of having a single tourism officer responsible for three key regions.
Kwala further pointed to alleged racial discrimination in parts of the tourism industry, arguing that this limits investment and participation opportunities for local entrepreneurs.
"We don't need investors in certain specific areas for it to transform when there are local people here. If it's in the Kongola constituency and a certain person has land, the Development Bank of Namibia (DBN) or other facilities can put money into that. Why can't the son or grandson of that person be given money to start a camping site? Stop bringing investors from far away."
He emphasised the need to utilise existing infrastructure and avail key infrastructure in targeted areas.