It is quite difficult to put a clear-cut between ordinary tourism and ecotourism in Namibia. Tourists are defined as the visitors entering Namibia, stating their intention to stay at least one night and not more than one year, returning Namibian citizens or residents who hold foreign nationalities, and persons stating their intention to stay less than one night are excluded. The tourism industry is one of the fastest growing sectors in Namibia. Namibia has a notable potential for ecotourism.
Given the fact that the country has a variety of both plant and animal species which are found in an unique environment, nature lovers have been attracted to such distinctive ecosystem. Due to the difficulty involved in determining the number of tourists visiting Namibia for mainly ecotourism, the Ministry of Environment and Tourism is not able to differentiate between the two types of tourists coming to Namibia. For this reason, the statistics indicating the tourists who have recently been to Namibia and the focus for the near future, as well as the sources of such tourists, is provided in the appendix.
