Global crisis puts dent in trophy hunting

FOREIGN nationals travelling to Namibia for trophy-hunting safaris have been affected by the global credit crisis and have either cancelled bookings or postponed their trips, the Namibia Professional Hunting Association (Napha) announced yesterday.

‘Based on the feedback received from trophy-hunting operators who have recently returned from marketing trips, prospects for the international safari and hunting industry have been negatively affected by the current global economic challenges, with attendance by potential buyers, and therefore also bookings, down drastically at most of the conventions,’ said Marina Lamprecht, Executive Committee member of Napha.
The Namibian trophy-hunting industry’s representatives exhibited at dedicated sport hunting conventions in the USA, Europe and Asia in the past three months.
The new general trend for the international trophy hunters, whose financial position still allows them to travel internationally, is to book with well-established and well-known hunting operators, leaving many of the newer exhibitors disappointed by the lack of interest and business.
A number of Namibian operators also reported that trophy-hunting safaris already booked for the 2009 and 2010 seasons were either cancelled or postponed.
‘Every indication is that the higher end of the market will be less affected than the middle and lower ones,’ Lamprecht said in a statement. ‘Air Namibia has already seen a 15 per cent decrease in forward bookings compared to 2008, and since the national airline carries 80 per cent of the tourists travelling via Europe, this will have a significant impact on our trophy-hunting industry. Every indication is that the global credit crunch now threatens to impede the short- to medium-term further development of trophy hunting in Namibia,’ Napha warns.
The most recent statistics available from the Ministry of Environment and Tourism indicate that the number of trophy hunters from Germany visiting Namibia in a year had increased from 1 490 to 1 905 over a 10-year period. The largest increase of trophy hunters is from the US, increasing from 155 to 1 516 over 10 years.
‘It is expected that this market will be affected most negatively by the current global economy,’ according to Napha. Over recent years Namibia has become one of the most popular hunting destinations in southern Africa, primarily because of Namibia’s political stability and because Namibia’s hunting professionals are internationally recognised as the best trained and most ethical in the world.
This is largely due to the high standards of the Ministry of Environment and Tourism’s theoretical and practical hunting examinations.