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

eference to the Okavango Delta region. The Department of Tourism (2001) and the
Central Statistics Office (2004) notes that tourist and visitor arrivals in Botswana
have grown considerably from 484 960 in 1997 to 826 193 by the Year 2000 (Table
6.4). These findings correspond with those of the World Trade Organisation (2001)
which noted that approximately 800 000 individuals visited/holidayed in Botswana in
2000. This increase in visitors between 1997 and 2000 represents an annual growth
rate of approximately 15 percent. However, as can also be seen from Table 6.4,
visitor/tourist numbers to Botswana experienced a decline after 2000, from 826 193
to 757 273 in 2002, a decline of 8.3 percent, or 4.2 percent annually. Several factors
can be mentioned which may have contributed to this decline: the global economic
recession during this period; the political instability in Namibia's Caprivi strip and
Zimbabwe, and Botswana's presidential elections in 2002.
Table 6.4: Number of TouristsNisitors to Botswana From 1997 to 2002
Year Number of TouristsNisitors Annual Growth Rate
1997 484960
1998 524586 7.6%
1999 669208 21.6%
2000 826193 19.0%
2001 791 120 -4.2%
2002 757273 -4.2%
Source: Adapted From Republic of Botswana Tourism Statistics, 2001; Republic of
Botswana Statistical Bulletin, 2004.
According to a report by the Republic of Botswana Department of Tourism (2001), in
2000 the Okavango Delta received 12.1 percent of the total visitors/tourists to
Botswana. However, this report does not explain the methodology used to calculate
or conclude that 12.1 percent of the tourists/visitors to Botswana went to the
Okavango Delta. As can be seen from Table 6.4, the total number of tourists and
visitors to Botswana in 2000 amounted to 826 193, of which 12.1 percent comprised
99969 individuals. Based on this result, it can therefore be stated that 99 969
people visited the Okavango Delta in 2000.
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