When various pioneers in the Namibian hospitality sector came together in late 1987, their aim was to pave the way for the creation of a lobby group to speak out for the interests of the tourism accommodation sector, and to see tourism take up a key role in Namibia’s economy.

Fast forward 35 years and much has been achieved: the Namibian tourism industry is one of the three economic pillars in Namibia, and tourism businesses provide an impressive percentage of employment opportunities for Namibians at all skill levels and in all regions. But while much has changed in the tourism landscape over the past 35 years, it is noteworthy that much has stayed the same.

The Hospitality Association of Namibia was initially named the Hotel Association of Namibia. Apart from a few hotels, motels and several guest farms, not much more existed in the way of tourism accommodation prior to Namibia’s independence. Many of HAN’s archived documents are printed newsletters and lever arch files. Computer files and digitised archives slowly replaced the hard copies half-way through HAN’s history. Going through the archive it is astonishing that the issues, topics and concerns of the hospitality sector in its early years remain very current today.

A case in point, one only needs to reflect on some of the HAN Congress themes over the past three-and-a-half decades to realise how progressive the pioneers were: 20 years ago, HAN members debated whether investing in tourism was a challenge or a gamble. Most of them were convinced that by going the extra mile and being the perfect host, and through cooperation and making tourism everyone’s business, the future for Namibia would be brighter.

Planning today for tourism tomorrow, growth at home through service and co-operation, and with everyone in Destination Namibia aiming for excellence, the pioneers aimed to create a Namibia to be proud of, just as we all do today. Many ‘old’ HAN members will recognise the congress slogans of the past in the words above, and they will probably still remember tracking the trends in tourism and aiming for sustainable business practices in HAN’s year of maturity in 2008.

HAN hosted a series of special events over the years, for example:

• tourism and mining, to ensure optimal use of the Namibian landscape; some beautiful long-standing partnerships evolved from this event
• tourism and strategic partnerships with other key tourism sectors, such as operations, travel agencies and car rentals, to strengthen the tourism chain and optimise the business flow
• tourism and training in 2010, to increase awareness of the career opportunities in tourism, as well as improving service levels through dedicated training.

The latter is of particular interest again this year. The 2023 HAN Congress once again focuses on training and skills development, this time to address what has become tourism’s biggest challenge globally – the skills deficiency in the travel industry.

Over the years the persistent lobbying of pioneers, including Tom Mutavdzic and Ulf Grünewald, was instrumental in establishing some training institutions for tourism in Namibia in the early 1990s. Such as NATH and the HTC, which later transformed into the Hotel School in Windhoek and resulted in the number of training initiatives for the tourism sector growing from a few short courses and some vocational training to university degree courses. Following HAN’s event in 2010, tourism was introduced as a school subject and until 2017 the Namibian Institute of Educational Development added tourism to some vocational schools across the country.

The 2023 HAN Congress is able to host no less than 20 different training institutions and training options, from universities, colleges and academies to vocational centres, AND business-owned training programs. Their role has never been more important – the world is in dire need of optimally skilled staff to run the travel and tourism sector. There is an urgent need to synergise efforts, to co-operate and to develop skills for everyone’s business.

The focus of the 2023 HAN Congress on Co-creation of a tourism training roadmap for Namibia aims to pave the way for effective, ongoing and optimal skills development programs for young Namibians, to ensure that the leaders of tomorrow are suitably qualified to take Namibia’s tourism sector to greater heights.

Making the tourism industry attractive for aspiring entrepreneurs as an investment, and for young people as a career choice, has become the aim of many companies and associations. They realise that human capital is one of the most important assets to guarantee a sustainable and enjoyable hospitality sector going forward.

Namibia will always have its special challenges as a dry country, but tourism stimulates many desolate regions. HAN has looked at tourism trends at the change of the millennium and again after 2010. In 2013 the Hospitality Association of Namibia celebrated its 25 adventurous years together with the Adventure Travel World Summit, the first event of its kind on the African continent – now already some 10 years ago. Since then HAN has taken its members on a digital highway, and made them surf the tides of change in tourism.

HAN is committed to keep focusing on the needs of Namibia and its people, to ensure that tourism as the only truly sustainable economic sector, grows and thrives in decades to come. TNN