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

With regards to tourist/visitor numbers from the Moremi Game Reserve (Table 6.5),
the figures indicate that there was an increase in visitor/tourist numbers to Moremi
Game reserve, (and it can be assumed the Delta as a whole) from 1995 to 1999.
However, there was a decline in 2000 and 2001. This corresponds to the figures in
Table 6.4 for Botswana as a whole, which also experienced a decline in
tourist/visitor numbers after 2000. The most affected groups included the
independent (Iow-cost) and mobile tourist as shown in Table 6.6.
Table 6.6: The Number and Type of Tourists That Visited Moremi Game
Reserve From 1995 to 2001
Year Number of TouristsNisitors
Independent (Low Cost) Mobile High Cost Totals
1995 8025 12570 15479 36074
1996 7495 15395 15314 38204
1997 11 298 17487 14202 42987
1998 14560 17890 17 106 49556
1999 16367 14835 15505 46707
2000 8141 8521 14 173 30835
2001 7035 7687 16351 31 076
Source: Adapted From the Department of Wildlife and National Parks, 2002;
Mbaiwa, 2002.
A number of factors can be mentioned which may have contributed to this decline:
the global economic recession during this period (as noted earlier); the political
instability in Namibia's Caprivi Strip and Zimbabwe as the country moved towards
parliamentary elections in the winter of 2000; presidential elections in Botswana in
2002; floods in 2000 that resulted in the Moremi Game Reserve being temporarily
closed to independent (self-drive) and mobile tourists for half the year as roads were
impassable; and an increase in park fees for Moremi Game Reserve during this
period (Mbaiwa, 2002).
Despite this decline in visitor numbers to Moremi Game Reserve, the general picture
shows an increase in the number of tourists visiting the area in other years. As a
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