WINDHOEK, April 14 (Xinhua) -- The Namibian tourism industry which employs 120,000 people has almost come to a grinding halt because of the severe effects of COVID-19, a senior government official said Tuesday.

Namibian Minister of Environment, Forestry and Tourism, Pohamba Shifeta said the sector which contributes about 26 billion Namibian dollars (1.4 billion U.S. dollars) to GDP is struggling to survive under lockdown.

Shifeta said while Namibia is taking drastic decisions to contain movement and spread of COVID-19, the decisions are worth it in protecting the health of Namibians.

"As a country we derive our tourism earnings from the between 500,000 to 600,000 visitors that will visit our country annually. However international tourism is not going to improve this year," he said.

Shifeta said there is a need to find ways of assisting workers who have lost jobs and those who have been sent home without pay.

He added that major hotels and lodges have already started sending their employees home without payments.

The minister also said on Tuesday that the country's trophy hunting season, between April and October, has been affected by the outbreak of COVID-19, adding that there will be no trophy hunting this year, a situation which will result in conservancies and parks stranded with no income.

Trophy hunting contributes revenue for the country and sustains more than 15,000 jobs. Shifeta said conservancies will be left stranded and the damage will be substantial.

"It will affect our conservation, we have to have some kind of assistance especially in conservancies because recovery will be long and hard post COVID-19," Shifeta said. Enditem

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