Botswana Targets Tourism for Economic Growth

Sights like this attract more than one million visitors a year to Botswana.

Botswana, which has been attracting more than a million visitors a year since 2003, aims to double its annual tourism growth rate of eight per cent over the next five years.

Dr Lucas Gakale, Permanent Secretary of Botswana's Ministry of Environment, Wildlife and Tourism, said this at an investment forum held at the Commonwealth Secretariat in London, UK, on 14 June 2005.

Botswana, which is bordered by South Africa, Namibia, Zambia and Zimbabwe, is capitalising on its scenic beauty and its wildlife to promote socio-economic development in the country in an ecologically sustainable manner.

Dr Gakale stated: "We can increase our foreign exchange earnings and government revenues through tourism, and help generate employment mainly in the rural areas. This will stimulate other economic activities and reduce the migration to urban areas. The distribution of economic benefits outside Botswana's urban areas could contribute to reducing socio-economic disparities among the country's different areas."

The Permanent Secretary called for partnerships between the private and public sectors to promote the tourism industry. He encouraged joint ventures between small rural or local companies and well-established tourism operators that will promote networking and skills transfer.

Dr Gakale said tourism, which is the second largest earner of foreign exchange for Botswana, currently contributes seven per cent of the country's gross domestic product, providing jobs for some 15,000 people in this industry.

"Tourism has been identified as an engine of growth and an industry with potential to contribute to economic diversification that will help to broaden our economic base. The development of smart partnerships between the Government and the private sector holds the future for tourism investment. The potential is there and Botswana is ready to be explored."

Dr Gakale said apart from safari hunting in its savannahs, Botswana has other tourist attractions such as rock paintings and golfing. 

Botswana's main source of visitors is from South Africa, with close to half-a-million visitors annually. The United Kingdom, United States, Europe and other neighbouring countries in Africa make up the rest of the 1.1 million visitors. Dr Gakale said the tourism development agencies which include the National Advisory Council on Tourism, Botswana Tourism Board, Department of Tourism and the Tourism Industry Licensing Board, are collaborating in efforts to bring in the tourist dollar. In 2003, tourist receipts totalled US$356 million, with an average daily expenditure of US$180 per day per visitor. The average stay was about one week.

 

CNIS - the Commonwealth News and Information Service Issue 240, 22 June 2005

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