The Realities of Ecotourism Development in Botswana - Responsible Tourism: Critical Issues for Conservation and Development - page 182

Location

ZAMBIA

Africa

Botswana

Okanvago
delta

ZIMBABWE

Maun

NAMIBIA

Makgadikgadi
Pans

B O T S W A N A

KALAHARI
DESERT

Gaborone

SOUTH AFRICA

Main road
Railway

Figure 9.1 Map of Botswana showing the Okavango Delta

In Botswana, located in southern Africa (Figure 9.1), tourism was almost non-
existent at the time of independence in 1966. However, by 2006, it had grown to
be the second largest economic sector contributing 5 per cent to Botswana's gross
domestic product (GDP) (Gaolatlhe, 2006). In 2000, the total visitor arrivals in
Botswana were 1,424,669 of which 81,632 of them were ecotourists/holiday
tourists and visited the country's national parks, game reserves and other wildlife
areas (Botswana Government, 2003). Much of Botswana's holiday tourists (that
is, photographic and safari hunters) visit the Okavango Delta and rich wildlife
habitat located in northwestern Botswana.
While tourism development in Botswana, particularly in wildlife areas such as
the Okavango Delta, is on the increase, a number of studies (e.g. Fidzani et al,
1999; NWDC, 2003; Kgathi et al, 2005) have found that most of the people in the
Okavango Delta live in what the United Nations has defined as 'human poverty'.
Human poverty is a composite measure of life span, health, knowledge, economic
provisioning and degree of social inclusion (UNDP, 2005). Poverty has created
conditions for the over-harvesting of natural resources by local people in the
Okavango Delta. It is from this perspective that, in the late 1980s, an approach to
involve local communities in natural resource conservation through tourism
development was adopted by government. This approach has come to be known
as Community-Based Natural Resource Management (CBNRM) and