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

norms of its people. To date, the government has taken a strong conservation stand
and has only marginally stressed increased tourism. However, the deteriorating
national economic situation, exacerbated by drought and a subsequent decline in
revenues from cattle raising, has prompted leaders to push for more tourism to
compensate for economic losses (http://www.lead.org...htm).
Total foreign arrivals to Botswana increased from 1 731 321 in 2001 to 1 917819 in
the Year 2002. The most popular reason for entering the country was either in transit
to other countries or holidaying in Botswana, with the annual hotel turnover since
1999 averaging around 150 million Pula (Republic of Botswana Tourism Statistics,
2000; Republic of Botswana Statistical Bulletin, 2004). The sparsely populated
Okavango Delta in the northwestern region of Botswana has become the country's
prime tourist destination, capturing most of the 800 000 foreign tourists that enter the
country each year (Republic of Botswana Tourism Statistics, 2000). Botswana's
tourism industry contributes 6 percent to total GDP, and it is estimated that some 53
percent of the economically active population in the Okavango Delta region derive at
least part of their income from tourism in the form of formal and informal work in the
tourism industry (Silitshena and McLeod, 1998). The population of Maun, the
regional headquarters, increased from 26 768 in 1991 to 43 952 in 2002. This was
largely due to the migration of people from rural areas to Maun in search of
employment and development opportunities brought about by the growth of the
tourism industry (Silitshena and McLeod, 1998; Mbiawa, 2001). The Okavango Delta
region is now beginning to experience a number of detrimental environmental, social
and economic impacts typical of conventional mass tourism.
Research has shown that the Okavango Delta is faced with a number of social,
economic and environmental challenges. These include extreme levels of poverty,
especially in the rural areas; lack of infrastructure; competition over land, resources
and labour; growing regional inequality; social degradation; increased imports
leading to foreign exchange leakages; changes in subsistence strategies and
increased 'rural-urban' migration; and the loss of control of the region by the local
population to the global tourism system. The Okavango Delta is in the process of
undergoing a change from traditional, rural, subsistence economies and livelihoods
to capitalist, commercial-driven economic structures. In the Okavango Delta, as in
many places around the world, people are in the process of being integrated into
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