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

Table 6.23: Total Annual National Imports (Botswana, 2001)
Imports ($ million) 1996 1997 1998
Food,Beverages,Tobacco 292 297 306
Fuels 110 127 125
Chemicals and Rubber Products 176 205 211
Wood and Paper Products 126 140 144
Textiles and Footwear 129 146 150
Metals and Metal Products 152 241 249
Machinery 278 398 410
Vehicles 243 452 465
Total 1727 2260 2326
Source: Adapted From African Contemporary Record (2001).
According to the BTDP (1999), credits on the travel account amounted to an
estimated Pula 495 million in 1997. This represents 4.5 percent of the exports of
goods and services in that Year. This shows that tourism was the third largest export
sector in 1997, after diamonds (P 7654 million) and vehicles (P 748 million), and
ahead of copper-nickel (p 343 million) and beef (p 343 million). Leakages of foreign
exchange due to imported goods and services, which is estimated to have been
Pula 175 million in 1997, represents 35 percent of the credits and travel in that year.
However, tourism has since become the second largest revenue earner in Botswana
after diamonds (Mbaiwa, 2002).
As can be seen from Table 6.9, the Okavango Delta contains a total of 66
permanent safari camps, which tend to be located in the more rural isolated areas,
not in the 'urban zones' such as Maun and Shakawe. The development of tourism
facilities has therefore occurred in even the most remote areas of the Delta.
However, this has not initiated regional economic development as most of the safari
camps have foreign-owned headquarters in Maun or Gaborone to which most of the
tourism-generated income accrues. There has been an unequal distribution of the
economic impact of tourism development in the Delta. The majority of the earnings
accrue to multinational hotels, and hunting and safari camps, which dominate the
Delta's tourism industry.
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