Jolie-Pitt newborn puts little-known Namibia on tourism map

There's nothing like a gorgeous celebrity couple and their newborn love child to put a country on the tourist map.

While Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt celebrate the weekend birth of their daughter Shiloh in Namibia, tourism officials in the southwest African nation are rejoicing, too, given the global publicity generated by the blessed event.

"Americans always say, 'Namibia? Where's that?' " says Pahukeni Titus, a staffer at the Namibian embassy in Washington. "Now at least they know where it is."

Already, he says, calls have increased. Some callers are curious about travel. Some are just wondering, "Why Namibia?"

The couple and their entourage, paparazzi in pursuit, have been holed up for more than a month in a small beachfront resort on Namibia's Atlantic coast, where published rates range from $155 to $313 a night per person. The couple are expected to remain at the Burning Shore hotel through June, says Nesi Magg, a marketer for the lodging.

Namibia's beaches are wild and beautiful, but because the water is cold and the currents are swift, the coast isn't the major tourist attraction of the former South West Africa, which gained independence from South Africa in 1990.

Instead, nature lovers seek out its spectacular flora and big game. Etosha National Park in the north draws safari-goers who stake out watering holes to view rhinos, cheetah and rare desert elephants. The towering red sand dunes at Sossusvlei, said to be among the world's highest, are a highlight for visitors. There's also big-game hunting on private ranches.

"It is one of the up-and-coming destinations of southern Africa - and this is even prior to Brad and Angelina," says Anne Bellamy, president of Glendale, Calif.-based African Travel. "The flora and fauna are spectacular, and there's an old-time quality about it that's unadulterated and quite appealing,"

But the nation is hardly overrun by tourists. About 167,000 visited in 2004, says Namibia Tourism. The majority came from neighboring South Africa and from Germany, whose 19th-century colonial vestiges remain in some locales. U.S. visitors are relatively scarce; about 8,000 traveled there in 2004. That probably has something to do with the time and expense involved in getting there. And Namibia's attractions are far-flung and require flying from one to another.

Still, for those with time and money, "all the publicity around Brad and Angelina is going to highlight what is a very attractive place to visit," says Tim Jarrell, publisher of Fodor's travel guides.

The Namibian government had stepped up promotional efforts, Bellamy says. "Then, conveniently, Brad and Angelina came along, bless their hearts."