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

6.3.4.6 Enclave Tourism
As highlighted earlier, the type of tourism that has so far developed in the Okavango
Delta region is characterised by facilities such as hotels, lodges and safari camps
that are owned and controlled by foreigners. As shown in Table 6.18 and 6.19, 81
percent of the tourist facilities in the Delta have either foreign ownership or
involvement, and 11 of the 15 (73 percent) concession areas leased out by the
Tawana Land Board in 2001 have foreign involvement and control. Tourism that
develops in remote areas and is predominantly owned and controlled by foreigners
(e.g., expatriates) has in recent literature been referred to as 'enclave tourism'
(Britton, 1991; Ceballos-Lascurain, 1996). According to Ceballos-Lascurain (1996),
enclave tourism is tourism that is concentrated in remote areas in which the types of
facilities and their physical location fail to take into consideration the needs and
wishes of surrounding communities. The goods and services offered by the tourist
industry are beyond the financial means of the local communities and any foreign
currency created may have only a minimal effect on the economy of the host
location. Enclave tourism has also been referred to as internal colonialism, whereby
the natural resources in a host region mostly benefit expatriates or outsiders while
the majority of the locals are marginalised either financially or otherwise. In enclave
tourism, facilities such as hotels, lodges and safari camps are designed to meet the
needs and interests of foreign tourists (Drakakis-Smith and Williams, 1983;
Ceballos-Lascurain, 1996).
Even though tourism facilities are dispersed throughout the Okavango Delta region,
and are somewhat diversified in type, price-range and structure, the segregation of
the local population from these facilities through income disparities has led to the
growth of tourist enclaves. As can be seen from Table 6.13, most accommodation
facilities in the Delta charge prices well beyond the means of the local population.
This is also reflected in Table 6.7, which shows that Botswana citizens do not visit
the Okavango Delta's tourist areas in large numbers, and that the country as a
whole generally has a very poor domestic tourism industry. In Maun, for example,
most of the prime river-bank areas are dominated by concentrations of 'up-market'
lodges and hotels, which are insulated from the local population housing areas by
'uninhibited green stretches'. These tourist facilities cater only to the foreign visitors,
offering various eco-tourism activities such as boat trips through, or flights over, the
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