06 Sep 2020

Leader of Opposition who is also Maun West MP, Mr Dumelang Saleshando has called on government to close revenue leakages in the tourism industry.

When contributing to the debate on Sustainable Environmental Chapter of NDP 11 Mid-term Review in Parliament, he said the Draft Policy on Tourism should consider closing such gaps in order for Batswana to benefit more from the industry.

“The draft policy has nothing to show with regards to helping the country develop substantial revenue from tourism,” he said.

He argued that available figures showed that currently 70 per cent income from the various tourism-associated activities benefited foreigners over Batswana, something that  he said had impoverished Batswana living within tourism destination areas.

He said Batswana participating in the industry only held low value investments, while foreigners continued to dominate the industry

Mr Saleshando decried low citizen participation in tourism, which he said was a far-fetched dream as that foreigners in the industry exploited them.

Still in Parliament,  Chobe MP Mr Machana Shamukuni said there was a need to promote domestic tourism and come up with a dual pricing policy to regulate locals and international tourists.

He said the tourism sector continued to suffer a hard blow due to the COVID-19 pandemic and this lead to the retrenchment of some employees from hotels and lodges, closure of some tourism facilities, suspension of tourism activities.

Mr Shamukuni said this was largely due to the dependency on international tourists. "Since closure of borders we have experienced a decline of international tourists and this has negatively impacted our tourism sector,” he said.

Mr Shamukuni said the situation called for local interventions and there was a need to promote local tourism so as to keep the light burning. He said while domestic tourism could make a difference, issues of pricing to access tourism facilities could be a challenge.

“Prices at some tourism destinations are high and this closed Batswana out, therefore there is a need for a dual pricing which would allow low charges for locals compared to international tourists,” he said.

Mr Shamukuni said this would help strike a balance and allow locals to have better access to tourism facilities, adding that it could assist the country attain goals of self-sustenance on tourism.

On other issues, Mr Shamukuni said there was need to improve working conditions of some employees in the tourism sector saying most of them were given poor accommodation and low wages.  Meanwhile Maun West MP Mr Goretetse Kekgonegile expressed concern about disposal of waste in hotels and lodges.

He said there were no proper ways followed as some disposed waste into deltas and that posed a health threat to wildlife and human beings.

Earlier in her presentation, Minister of Environmental, Natural Resources Conservation and Tourism, Ms Phildah Kereng said she was aware that an influx of   elephants into settled areas continued unabated during 2019-2020 as a consequence of drought which was experienced over the country.

She said this increased human-wildlife conflicts and as part of efforts to address the challenge, national Elephant Action Plan would be implemented to reduce the conflict and promote harmonious co-existence.

She further said as a way of  creating  employment opportunities at community level, the ministry would accord qualifying youth to assess damage caused by wildlife.

 

This, she said would go a long way in reducing turnaround time for responding to wildlife damages. BOPA