Irene !hoaës
9 October 2008
Windhoek — The Namibia Tourism Board (NTB) says it has finalised the marketing action plan for the 2010 Marketing Strategy.
It is widely believed that the FIFA 2010 Soccer World Cup in South Africa will be beneficial to neighbouring countries including Namibia.
There is expectation that the international football community travelling to South Africa will result in a surge of tourists to SADC countries, hence the plans to capitalise on the opportunity.
Government has availed N$10 million to the NTB for the purpose.
According to the NTB Chief Executive Officer, Digu //Naobeb, a meeting was held with the technical sub-committee dealing with marketing and trade promotions for 2010.
The committee had thus submitted the plan to the Ministry of Environment and Tourism for further scrutiny and implementation.
//Naobeb said the plan looks at three principles in a bid to maximise benefits from the event.
Among the first plans identified by the tourism board is aggressive attraction of displaced tourists to South Africa, due to the World Cup in 2010.
Displaced tourists are, tourists who would normally go to South Africa or any other regional destination during the world cup and might want to avoid the destination during that period.
//Naobeb sketched the second alternative plan to attract tourists to Namibia as the international media converges in South Africa, especially pre-2010.
"Many countries have no idea as to the geographical position of Namibia.
Some only know Namibia through Frankie Frederiks," //Naobeb said.
NTB plans to provide footages of the country as well as invite selected international media groupings to showcase Namibia.
NTB plans to participate later this year in the Socorex Trade Fair to be held in South Africa.
It will share a stand with the Ministry of Youth, National Service, Sports and Culture as well as the Namibia Football Association (NFA).
The third plan is to bring in an important Italian player, Paolo Rossi, to coach the youth before the 2009 FIFA Confiderations Cup next year.
All continental champions and the host nation, South Africa, will play the Confederations Cup.
The tourism board also sent two national team players, Jeremia Baisako and Brian Brendel to Swtizerland where they had the opportunity to train for one month with FC Aarau team, in order to get international exposure.
//Naobeb, however, regrets that there is no harmonised regional plan to reap from the benefits offered by this international event.
"The ball is in the hands of every SADC country," he noted.
The South African department of environmental affairs and tourism has, however, come up with a transfrontier park initiative, identified as a mechanism for spreading benefits of hosting the 2010 Soccer World Cup.
An investor's conference will be held from October 20-22 in Johannesburg, South Africa.
The conference will serve as a briefing session for potential investors regarding the opportunities and procurement processes in countries such as Angola, Botswana, Lesotho, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Swaziland, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
Regarding the planned univisa or common visa for the SADC region during 2010, a meeting will be held on October 25 in the Democratic Republic of Congo to discuss the issue.
Offering travellers to the World Cup 2010 an opportunity to experience Africa beyond the walls of the soccer stadia may be one of the reasons SADC countries have committed themselves to working towards a univisa for the region by 2010.
It was also felt that a campaign that encouraged a marriage between the soccer event and transfrontier areas and national parks would help tourism in the region.
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