Have a fantastic #WorldTourismDay. Namibia is proof that tourism and community development go hand in hand.
Tag Archives: Africa
Namibia fully prepared to deal with Ebola: WHO
Namibia is fully prepared to cope with any case of Ebola entering the country, a World Health Organisation (WHO) official said on Wednesday.
“We are ready in Namibia. We will do everything to make sure that everybody knows about Ebola. I am absolutely sure we can contain it in Namibia,” said WHO Representative in Namibia, Dr Quazi Islam.
He was speaking during a media dinner organised by the United Nations Communications Group (UNCG) on behalf of the United Nations Country Team (UNCT). Continue reading Namibia fully prepared to deal with Ebola: WHO
O&L leisure celebrates 2nd anniversary
Two years ago, in July 2012 the Ohlthaver & List (O&L) Group of Companies centralized the management of their hospitality holdings and brought to life O&L Leisure Hotels & Lodges as owners and managers of Mokuti Etosha Lodge and Midgard Country Estate.
“In 2012 we created our own team of hospitality professionals and launched the O&L Leisure Brand on the foundations of O&L’s proud heritage as an authentic, Namibian company, with an established history since 1919. The O&L Leisure brand represents what Namibian hospitality stands for: warm-hearted, honest and down-to-earth ‘hosts’ who are proud of our country, traditions and diverse cultural groups Sven Thieme, executive chairman of the O&L Group said on Monday.
According to the managing director of O&L Leisure, Bruce Hutchison re-positioning the two properties – Midgard Country Estate and Mokuti Etosha Lodge – was a challenging yet exciting exercise. Continue reading O&L leisure celebrates 2nd anniversary
African Aviation Must Implement Yamoussoukro Decision Now
Namibia could add more than 10 000 jobs and N$1 billion to its gross domestic product if African countries were to implement the Yamoussoukro Decision to liberalize its aviation industry.
The International Air Transport Association (IATA) published a report setting out the considerable social and economic benefits of intra-African air service liberalization.
The report, by the experienced independent economic consultants InterVISTAS, outlines the benefits that would accrue if 12 African nations were to implement the 1999 Yamoussoukro Decision. The 12 nations in the report are: Algeria, Angola, Egypt, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Namibia, Nigeria, Senegal, South Africa, Tunisia and Uganda. The Yamoussoukro Decision committed 44 signatory countries to deregulating air services and to opening regional air markets to transnational competition. The implementation of this agreement, however, has been slow, and the benefits have not been realized. Continue reading African Aviation Must Implement Yamoussoukro Decision Now
Oshakati Totem Expo, a resounding success: Organisers
Spokesperson of the Oshakati Totem Exposition (Expo), Jackson Muma says about 60 000 people from all walks of life visited the expo from Tuesday to Saturday.
Speaking to Nampa in an interview on the sidelines of the expo on Saturday, Muma said the number increased from 8 000 people who visited the expo last year.
A total of 16 totem groups and 125 exhibitors, including kapana and seasonal produce stalls, took part in the 2014 Totem Expo.
“Most things happened beyond our expectation, and the security was never compromised,” Muma noted, while describing the expo a resounding success.
Apart from the local ones, the expo also attracted totem groups from Opuwo in the Kunene Region and the Zambezi Region.
“The Totem Expo is unique in its nature because unlike other trade fairs we have in the country, it is focussed on the promotion of our culture. Its administration is also good despite the fact that they have just started,” said one exhibitor, Nanguloshi Nghilengwa of the Phytomed Herbal Products company.
The Oshakati Town Council hosted the Totem Expo for the third consecutive year. Activities of this year’s expo commenced on Tuesday and ended on Saturday.
Youth, National Services, Sports and Culture Minister Jerry Ekandjo officially opened the 2014 Oshakati Totem Expo on behalf of President Hifikepunye Pohamba on Friday.
(NAMPA)
Namibian–Brazilian film wins international festival award
OGO de Corpo/Body Games, a Namibian-Brazilian joint production, won the Ousmane Sembene Award at the Zanzibar International Film Festival 2014.
Continue reading Namibian–Brazilian film wins international festival award
Giraffe app to monitor population distribution
While the giraffe population has declined significantly in Africa, Namibia has managed to keep its population growing through its conservation efforts.
The Giraffe Conservation Foundation, with the support of the Polytechnic of Namibia, has embarked on a project to develop an online ‘citizen science’ platform with the aim of assessing the distribution of the giraffe population across Africa.
GiraffeSpotter.org is an easy-to-use web-based application that allows anyone to upload photos of giraffe together with the location where the image was taken, as well as other information such as the herd size, sex and age of the giraffe.
With the help of GiraffeSpotter.org the foundation aims to improve its understanding of the giraffe range, distribution, numbers and its conservation status across Africa, while at the same time engaging people and raising awareness of the plight of giraffe in the wild.
Giraffe numbers are dropping rapidly. In the late 1990s it was estimated that there were approximately 140 000 giraffe living across their range in Africa while today estimates indicate that there are fewer than 80 000 giraffe remaining in the wild. Giraffe have already become extinct in seven African range states and it is happening largely unnoticed.
According to Steph Fenessy of the Giraffe Conservation Foundation, limited knowledge regarding the current status of giraffe as a species and the currently recognised nine subspecies poses a significant threat to their long-term survival in Africa.
He said that the numbers of giraffes have dropped significantly in Africa, but the good news is that in Namibia the numbers have increased thanks to the conservation efforts in the country.
According to him the main reason for the declining numbers of giraffe is the growth of the human population, which has caused habitat loss and illegal hunting and poaching that has caused giraffe to become extinct in at least seven African countries.
“Giraffe has a lot of meat and can feed plenty of people and are therefore especially hunted in war-torn countries. We are expecting to lose giraffe within the next few years in the DRC.”
He said giraffes play an important ecological role in the environment. The animals are large browsers that open up landscapes and stop bush encroachment, which is a real problem in Namibia.
“They play an extremely valuable role and are critical for the environment.”
Giraffespotter.org, which was developed by software engineering students of the Polytechnic, will allow people to engage and support conservation in Africa directly and will hopefully draw attention to the species’ plight.
The website was launched last week, prior to the first ever World Giraffe Day that was celebrated on June 21.
– Namibian Sun
Celebrate Africa’s rich history of storytelling
Welcome speech at 16th annual Namibia Tourism Expo: Monica Kalondo: Chairman Namibia Media Holdings (Pty) Ltd
This is the 16th annual Namibia Tourism Expo and with the assistance of our brands Republikein, Namibian Sun and Allgemeine Zeitung we are once again proud to organise and market this prestigious event.
At this year’s expo, we are also launching our new corporate brand, Namibia Media Holdings. NMH owns the brands Newsprint, Republikein, Namibian Sun, Allgemeine Zeitung, our first regional newspaper, Erongo, our monthly tourism supplement, Tourismus, and other industry supplements. The company has a long and proud media history for over 37 years and today we officially launch the NMH logo which replaces the DMH logo.
Africa is rich in its heritage of communicating and telling stories to everyone, so that everyone can enrich their lives with knowledge, understanding, compassion and respect. These stories have been shared for centuries around the campfires of Africa and ensured that the community felt a sense of belonging and harmony when these stories are discussed and debated. Today is no different and the campfire is still a central point of communication for communities in Africa and Namibia. At NMH we wish to be part of your campfire stories and share them with the community in which you communicate.
The Namibian Tourism Expo is one of the many campfires we have created in this beautiful country in which we help communities to share their stories. We are proud to be part of the tourism industry in sharing their stories with Namibians at this very unique event. The 2014 theme of the Namibia Tourism Expo is “No Limits” and we hope this will inspire everyone involved to be innovative in sharing their stories with visitors.
We are also proud to once again have Bank Windhoek on board as our anchor sponsor for the Bank Windhoek Republikein Motor Show and with the co-sponsorship of the Gondwana Collection Namibia have great stories to share with visitors this year.
Tourism and adventure tourism in particular is all about engaging and Ferrari, with the assistance of Shell Vivo, is touring Namibia this year to share the dream story of driving, seeing a Ferrari and visiting the Namibia Tourism Expo as part of their journey. Make sure that you visit their stand and enter in their exciting competition. Maybe you can share your story of visiting Brazil at the Formula 1 race in November with everyone.
At NMH we recognise that sharing stories today does not just happen around the traditional campfire and that new virtual campfires have been ‘lit’ with social media and smart phone technology. We are proud that the Namibia Tourism Expo will, for the first time, have Wi-Fi access for exhibitors and visitors – proudly sponsored by Paratus Telecom and Bidvest Namibia IT – making social media engagement a reality.
MyNamibia will host a mobile application that will enable visitors to receive news of events at the expo, participate in competitions and rate the stands at the expo. This will truly enhance the ability of all to share their stories with each other.
Sharing the story of hope is also very important for NMH and at the heart of hope is education. Please support our charity, the Amos Meerkat School Project which focuses on pre-primary education for children in need on farms, in rural areas of the country and in the city.
Buy a buff or buy wine tokens and support this educational effort. Close to 3000 pre-primary children across the country will appreciate your contribution. The story of hope will become a reality for these children.
We encourage visitors to engage each and every exhibitor at the Namibia Tourism Expo and let them share their story with you.
The heart of our story-telling events will be at the Old Mutual events tent. The choir competition will share their story of song, the bridal competition finals will share their story of love and hope and on Friday night we will host the Jan-Spies story-telling event. At this event the National Story-telling Gondwana Competition for aspiring story-tellers in Namibia will be launched.
We would once again like to thank the Windhoek Show Society for allowing us to host the Namibia Tourism Expo at their venue. We appreciate the cooperation and passion with which you have supported this event.
We thank all our exhibitors and visitors to the Expo for their continued support in making this Expo one of the premier events on the Namibian calendar. May we also continue to share the story of this beautiful country with one and all in a responsible manner.
So come and join NMH and its brands and share your stories, whether it is hard news, or sharing a message through an advertisement. We are honoured to be part of your campfire in sharing your story with everyone.
PSD Distribution Africa offers an integrated, customer centric business management suite
PSD Distribution Africa is the sole distributor of the CIMSO ERP software suite for sub-Saharan Africa and has been distributing the CIMSO suite of Software for the hospitality and service delivery industries since 1996.
The CIMSO suite is an integrated, customer centric business management suite with a reputation for data integrity and stability in extremely tough environments across sub-Saharan Africa. Since release the suite has grown exponentially with a current installed user base of 489 servers in 14 countries processing reservations for more than 72,468 PAX daily.
PSD Distribution Africa presence in Namibia
PSD’s first installation in Namibia was in the year 2000 (NamibiamWildlife Resorts and Mushara Lodge) and have since installed an additional 106 servers, accumulating to 108 current active servers installed in Namibia.
Approximately 23% of PSD’s current users are based in Namibia, including 508 users, 263 Points of Sales and processing reservations for more than 12 144 PAX daily in Namibia.
PSD services includes distribution, implementation, training and support services to a wide range of users in the hospitality, retail trading and service delivery industries.
Software Products
The CIMSO suite is a comprehensive, user friendly and secure enterprise resource planning (ERP) management system which keeps you in control of all the aspects of your business. Designed as a customer centric, next generation ERP system, it integrates customer profiles, direct communications and staff task management into all mission critical business processes.
Modules included are :
•Customer Relationship Management (CRM), Membership Management, Communications tracking, Property Management & Rates (PMS), Web-, Central- and Front Office Reservations, Golf T-bookings & Scorecard, Spa & Wellness Scheduling, Real Estate Leasing & Timeshare, Events & Conferencing.
•Integrated Debtors (AR), Creditors (AP), Stock (IN), General Ledger (GL) & Cashbooks provide full financial control.
•Restaurant, Bar & Superette Management provides for all points of sale needs.
•A proprietary data synchronizer (replicator) connects properties across the world in an effective and affordable manner.
•An interface engine provides seamless interfacing to an extensive range of keyless door lock devices, PBX systems, power management systems, consumption metering and access control devices.
Visit PSD Distribution Africa at Stand P13, Presidents Hall, Ground Floor at the Namibia Tourism Expo.
Namibia Tourism Expo #MyTourismExpo 