01 Jul 2013

Botswana Tourism Organisation (BTO) chief executive officer, Ms Myra Sekgororoane says the potential for tourism enterprising in the Ghanzi region is significant.

Speaking at the just-ended Ghanzi Show, Ms Sekgororoane said one needed to look at inherent culture and heritage in the region, which provided an opportunity for tourism development.

Ms Sekgororoane said Ghanzi District presented a great potential as a tourism destination in its own right and a transient location for tourists. As an organisation which promoted tourism, Ms Sekgororoane said they saw the Ghanzi show as an opportunity for events tourism.

She said agro tourism as a product could be packaged as an exciting tourism offering. She further noted that agriculture and tourism could co-exist and complement each other, resulting in optimal utilisation of land, through concepts such as integrated land use. 

Ms Sekgororoane said with the current global climatic challenges, the commonly practised methods of agricultural production could not be sustainable and therefore new methods should be adopted to enhance such production.

The agriculture sector in Ghanzi was dominated by livestock farming as well as game ranching, due to high intensity of heat during summer and autumn.

Ms Sekgororoane said because of the choice presented to them of mainly livestock farming, the people of Ghanzi produced quality beef animals, which showed commitment and enthusiasm to enhance the beef industry in this country.

She said BTO had developed a national eco-tourism strategy which was an eco-certification system designed to encourage and support operations that recognise socio cultural, economic and ecological practices. ENDS