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

As noted earlier, the greater majority of the tourists interviewed (57 percent) stated
that they did not intend to spend another holiday in the Okavango Delta due to the
high prices charged for tourist accommodation facilities and services. These findings
have implications for the continued growth of the Okavango Delta tourism industry.
Firstly, due to the increasing perception by both overseas and African tourists that
accommodation in the Okavango Delta is not affordable, a growing number of
tourists are holidaying in other, more affordable African countries, such as Kenya
and Tanzania. As a result, the Okavango Delta is losing most of its potential 'return
tourists' to other Third World tourism destinations due to its 'high-cost, low-volume'
policies. As was noted earlier, there is increasing recognition that this policy is
damaging the country's tourism industry by putting off both potential and return
tourists.
A decline in the number of tourists visiting the Okavango Delta will be extremely
damaging to the region's industry in that according to the law of supply and demand,
in times of scarcity, prices will rise, and this applies to the accommodation sector,
just as anywhere else. Also, during peak tourist months, when there is an influx of
visitors and rooms are hard to come by, accommodation prices will rise. In the
Okavango Delta the price inflation during the peak August to October tourist season
tends to increase from between 50 to 200 percent, which increasingly brings into
question the degree to which supply and demand dictate prices, as opposed to the
deliberate squeezing of the tourist market though irresponsible opportunism. With
the current 'high-cost, low-volume' policy, the Okavango Delta is in increasing
danger of losing its growing international status as one of the best holiday
destinations in Africa. Given the extent to which the region depends on tourism as its
economic mainstay, a drastic decline in tourist numbers would greatly damage the
region's economy.
Tourist accommodation facilities in the Okavango Delta tend to be independently
owned, with no significant franchises operating in the area. In order to increase
tourist numbers and make the Delta's tourism industry more accessible to the local
population, there is an urgent need for the establishment of cheaper, more widely
accessible accommodation facilities, which will appeal to a greater sector of society,
not just upper class foreign tourists, as is the present scenario. However, this must
not be done at the expense of the environment.
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