the role of tourism in natural resource management in the okavango ...

that the country's location was far from any major international tourist destinations,
popular with European and North American tourists. Botswana was not historically
considered a tourist destination overseas, but rather was perceived by many
Europeans and North Americans as being part of South Africa (Tsiang, 1990;
Silisthena and McLeod, 1998).
Early efforts to develop tourism in the 1960s in Botswana were minimal, as any
emphasis was limited to trophy hunting (Tsiang, 1990; White, 1995). A lack of
awareness by government planners of the potential economic benefits of tourism
may have stifled the growth of the industry in Botswana prior to the 1990s. This
meant that the tourism industry was left to its own devices by a government pre­
occupied with more pressing developmental priorities such as health, education and
infrastructure. As a result, tourism in the country began to develop slowly, in a rather
uncontrolled manner. However, the explosive growth of the industry in the late
1980s, with the return of peace and political stability to the southern African region,
led to a proliferation of camps in the primary tourist area, the Okavango Delta. This
brought the realisation by the government that the country's main tourist attraction
was being threatened with degradation (Pfotenhauer, 1990; Tsiang, 1990; Silisthena
and McLeod, 1998).
As international tourists and tour operators started arriving in Botswana in the late
1980s, the government became aware of the potential contribution of tourism to the
economic development of the country. The growth of the tourism industry during this
period, however, also resulted in a number of problems gradually coming to the fore.
These included serious land-use conflicts, a lack of skilled citizens in the sector, a
Tourism Division and Department of Wildlife and National Parks which were
inadequately staffed, over-use of some tourism areas and under-use of others, and
littering and fouling of reserve areas, alarming in its range and rapid emergence
(Pfotenhauer, 1990). Additionally, the fact that the industry was primarily run by
expatriates who catered almost exclusively to foreign tourists led to growing
suspicion, mistrust and a lack of understanding between the Batswana, especially
those living near tourist areas, and tour operators and their clients. Pfotenhauer
(1990) states that at the time, domestic tourism was almost non-existent and hence,
more Batswana came to believe that national parks and game reserves were
primarily for tour operators to set up businesses to cater to wealthy foreigners.
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