03 Jun 2019

Botswana Guides Association (BOGA) has been commended for empowering small scale tourism operators and being the voice for its members.

BOGA which has been in existence for 20 years was established  to address challenges facing small scale tourism operators and promote development of locally based tour and safari industry in Botswana.

Officially opening BOGA Annual General Meeting in Maun recently, Presidential Affairs, Governance and Public Administration Assistant Minister, Mr Machana Shaumukuni said the association had grown and now had affiliates in different villages across the country.

He said government was working round the clock to remove obstacles that hindered Batswana from benefiting fully from the tourism industry, pointing out that the President, Dr Mokgweetsi Masisi had instructed all ministries to review policies that obstructed local empowerment.

He noted that government was committed to ensuring increase of local participation in the tourism industry.

The assistant minister observed that research showed that local empowerment was key in establishing strong economies.

The government, he said would therefore see to it that local participation increased in the tourism value chain, such as ensuring locals played a role in supplying goods and services to reduce monopoly of big companies.

He noted that government was addressing issues of concern such as VISAs to lessen restrictions for tourists to visit the country as well as restructuring of the Air Botswana to reach many areas across the country.

Mr Shamukuni urged BOGA to engage with government on issues that affected them, adding that dialogue was better than the court route.

BOGA chairperson, Mr Kenson Kgaga raised concern about C-license suspension which denied small tourism operators’ access to the Moremi Game Reserve and Chobe National Park, an issue he said BOGA was planning to challenge in court.

Mr Kgaga said such hindrances were working against government’s stance of empowering Batswana and improving their participation in the tourism industry.

He said the C-license suspension had taken long, from 2014 to date and was discriminatory to small scale operators since mobile operators were exempted which failed to address the issue of controlling influx as purported.

Mr Kgaga cited the Environmental Management Plan (EMP) which took long to process and costly for small operators as another area of concern.

He also said the Land Bank Policy reversed efforts to increase local participation in tourism.

Mr Kgaga further said BOGA members were interested in participating in international tourism shows to sell their services but such shows were expensive.

He also said BOGA appreciated having expatriates in the tourism sector but advocated for a level share of the industry. ENDS