Namibia welcomed more than 1 345 168 international visitors to the country in 2025 – a 6.9% decline from 1 444 174 arrivals recorded in 2024.
According to the Tourist Arrivals Statistical Report for 2025, which the Ministry of Environment and Tourism published in June, 90.5% of these arrivals comprised tourists, 8.5% were same-day visitors, 0.7% were returning residents, and 0.3% involved other international visitor arrivals.
Environment minister Indileni Daniel in the report says tourism is a crucial sector in the battle to alleviate poverty due to its multiplier effects.
“In addition, it is also an important contributor to the country’s gross domestic product (GDP), job creation and foreign earnings,” she says.
The report puts Southern African Development Community countries South Africa, Angola, Botswana, Zambia and Zimbabwe, together with Germany, the United States, the United Kingdom, The Netherlands and France as as the top-10 source markets for 2025.
The report says the gender distribution comprised 64.1% men and 35.9% women, and out of the total international tourist arrivals, 62.1% comprised visitors aged 40 and above.
“The age distribution was dominated by the 60 and above age group, which constituted 22.2%, followed by the 40 to 49 age group with 21.9%, then 30 to 39 with 20.3%,” the ministry’s report states.
Analysing the reasons for coming to Namibia, the report says 48.4% of tourist arrivals involved people on holiday, 28.6% were visiting friends and relatives, while 18.5% came for business, and 4.5% had other travel purposes.
“International tourists coming to Namibia in 2025 spent on average 13 nights in the country – one night less than the average spent by international tourists in the country for 2024,” the report says.
The ministry says road transport remained the dominant mode of entry at 77.9%, followed by air travel, which accounted for 17.7%, while sea travel brought in 4.4% of the total visitors.
Commenting on tourist arrivals, the ministry said these peaked between May and August, with additional peaks in December, reflecting strong seasonal patterns.
Daniel says this is the first time the ministry’s tourism report contained statistics on visitor arrivals to the country’s national parks and nature reserves.
“Overall, national parks recorded an increase in visitation from 943 408 in 2024 to 994 780 in 2025, with Etosha National Park remaining the most visited of the country’s national parks,” the minister says.
She says of the 994 780 visitors to the national parks in 2025, a total of 816 730 were international visitors, and 178 050 were local visitors.
“The top three visited parks were the Etosha, Namib-Naukluft and Dorob national parks,” Daniel says.
As a plus for the country, the report says the African Tourism Board recently identified Namibia as one of Africa’s premier tourist destinations with its unique landscape, wildlife and cultural heritage.
– email: matthew@namibian.com.na
