15 Mar 2020

Botswana Tourism Organisation BTO) is skeptical of hosting some major tourism events this year amid the outbreak of the coronavirus.

Speaking at a media briefing, BTO chief executive officer, Ms Myra Sekgororwane said the organisation might cancel some tourism events like the Khawa Dune Challenge in May, Toyota Desert  Race in June and Makgadikgadi Epic in July.

Ms Sekgororwane said BTO was also reviewing its participation in international tourism expos following the cancellation of some of the international expos.

 She said the organisation would not take any further bookings for Botswana operators for fairs happening in the next five months, and would continue to monitor the COVID-19 outbreak and act accordingly.

“Our participation in events that we previously committed to is now questionable, like the Durban Indaba in early May, the Singapore event in April, Namibia tourism expo in June, We Africa-Cape Town in May and World Travel Cape Town in April,” she said.

In a wide-reaching attempt to prevent the spread of COVID-19 as cases across the region continued to rise, Ms Sekgororwane said the decision to cancel each event would be announced at least three weeks leading to the commencement of the event in order to cushion other stakeholders from the financial blow that came with the cancellation.

With avoidance of unnecessary travel being one of the precaution measures to avoid the spread, Ms Sekgororwane said the local tourism industry was expected to be hard hit as tourism and the aviation industry were intertwined.

She said the fact that the world continued to monitor and limit the risk of exporting or importing the virus, the negative impact on the tourism industry was inevitable.

The outbreak of the virus, she said, presented the tourism sector with a major challenge hence all stakeholders needed to work together to ensure an authoritative voice in response to the COVID-19 challenge. With tourism being one of the most affected sectors, Ms Sekgororwane said the World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) needed to revise its global 2020 forecast, adding that WTO was advising against the application of travel or trade re-instructions to countries experiencing the outbreak.

Furthermore, Hospitality and Tourism Association of Botswana (HATAB), chief executive officer, Ms Lily Rakorong said the COVID-19 outbreak had put the tourism sector at cross roads as the hospitality industry continued to experience cancellation of bookings at hotels and lodges, particularly in the wetlands and Safari regions.

 She said it was premature to weigh the impact of the virus as the industry was still on its first quarter which was normally characterised by a low turnout in tourism activities.

 Ms Rakorong stated that the national airline was also experiencing a 20 per cent less of its international flight, saying it might have a direct negative impact on the tourism industry. Ends