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

6.4 The Economic Impact of Tourism in the Okavango Delta
Region
An assessment of tourism's contribution to the development of a country or region
requires an analysis of the backward and forward linkages between tourism and
other sectors, an understanding of the spatial location of tourism activities, and the
identification of the beneficiaries of its economic and other impacts. As such, if
tourism is to have a major influence on the economy of a country or a particular
region, it should have strong linkages with the rest of the domestic economy. Some
of these linkages include agriculture, manufacturing, construction, wholesale and
retail trade, hotels and restaurants, transport, banking and insurance services, water
and electricity, and personal services.
6.4.1 Contribution to GDP and Foreign Exchange Earnings
The primary focus of Botswana's wildlife-based tourism industry is the country's
protected and wildlife management area network, which covers some 39 percent of
the surface area of the country. Approximately 90 percent of wildlife-based tourism
takes place in the northern Okavango-Chobe region. In 1997, a total of Pula 800
million was contributed to GDP by the tourism sector. This represents 4.5 percent of
the total GDP in 1996/1997, or 7.0 percent of the non-mining GDP. By 2000, this
had increased to approximately 5 percent of the country's GDP (Barnes, 1996;
Mbaiwa, 2002). According to Hermans (1990), in 1983/84 the contribution of tourism
to Botswana's economy was Pula 25 million, or around two percent of the GDP.
According to the Republic of Botswana National Development Plan Nine Review
(2003), the total revenue generated from national parks and game reserves in
Botswana for the Year 2000 amounted to Pula 21 million (Table 6.20).
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