02 May 2017

Tourists who do not originate from SADC countries will with effect from June this year start paying a P300 tourism development levy upon entry into Botswana.

Botswana Tourism Organisation representative Mr Tafa Tafa said at the recent HATAB conference that payment points were being installed in ports of entry around the country to enable tourists to pay before proceeding to immigration points.

He added that in July this year, tourists would now be able to pay the levy online. “The objective of the fee is to keep up with trends globally and to develop the tourism sector,” he said.

The Minister of Tourism, Natural Resources and  Conservation Mr Tshekedi Khama said that marketing Botswana to the international community was an expensive exercise and that local events supported by BTO had grown from four from the time he took the ministry to 16.

“We had hoped to get more money through NDP11, that is why we had kept this to ourselves but when we realised that the budget was not going to get any better we had to pursue this route. The ongoing Kasane-Kazungula redevelopment he said was going to use up P499 million alone,” he said

Concerning complaints of the poor state of the Maun Airport as well as its congestion challenges, Mr Khama said that they still did not have an exact date for the commencement of the new terminal. “Maun Airport is one of our biggest embarrassments, looking at the quality of the tourists who are transiting through it to the Okavango Delta,” he said.

Asked about the P300 (US$30) levy, Mr Khama said that Botswana was not the first country to introduce the levy. “In fact many countries have been imposing levies such as carbon emissions and other levies which are hidden,” he noted.

HATAB chief executive officer Ms Lily Korong suggested that the levy could have been done covertly as part of the whole tourist package like bed levy. She also felt that an impact assessment should have been carried out prior to rolling out.

Minister Khama highlighted that they decided to charge the levy from tourists independently through payment points to ensure that the money went directly back to his ministry to  have a direct say on how the money would be used and where.

For Chobe district which benefits from day trippers, the levy will not be an exception. Day trippers who are non-SADC nationals will still be expected to pop up the US$30 despite spending a few hours in the country for activities .

Similarly, those who had already made bookings in advance will still be expected to pay the fee upon entry. ENDS