08 Dec 2022

The government has been called to review policies that affect the tourism industry’s growth with a view to aligning them to modern ways of doing business.

Hospitality and Tourism Association of Botswana (HATAB) chairperson, Mr Joe Motse made the remarks during the SPEDU tourism expo recently, noting that to achieve the reset agenda, government needed to challenge policies that impeded the growth of the industry.

“Regulations are made by people and they can be changed by engaging people with experience in the industry to provide guidance.

I urge government to eliminate things that stifle tourism business growth,” he said.

He underscored the need to change the situation so that Batswana could tap into the vast opportunities that were yet to be exploited across the length and breadth of the country.

While he appreciated government’s efforts to upgrade some of the districts, Mr Motse said it was imperative to also empower them to get into business and generate the necessary income for development.

He stated that infrastructure development was key in fostering tourism.

Giving an update on the tourism industry, he revealed that it was gradually recovering in certain areas and called on government to come up with a robust recovery plan that would take it back to its glory days and beyond.

He stressed the need to ensure that investors were confident to do business that would diversify products and eventually grow the economy.

To achieve that, the environment, he said, should be conducive and there should be support to ensure the expansion of companies.

Mr Motse explained that according to the department of Tourism completed statistics, the Tourism Satellite accommodation report of 2019 revealed that the total accumulated for the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) stood at P9.1 billion, which relates to 5.1 per cent, adding that the industry also accumulated 7.9 per cent of employment.

Outlining the objective of the tourism expo, SPEDU chief executive officer, Mr Jazenga Uezesa explained that the tourism industry in Ngamiland requested SPEDU to stage the exposition to showcase services and products from the SPEDU region and other products within the tourism sector.

The intention, he said, was for buyers to appreciate SPEDU-manufactured products so that they could procure them in line with the 30 per cent off-take agreement by government.

Mr Uezesa further revealed that items produced at SPEDU were not for the region only, but for the benefit the entire country.

Member of Parliament for Maun West, Mr Dumelang Saleshando said it was a pity that although Ngamiland region was rich in natural resources, the communities within the region were left behind in terms of wealth accumulation.

However, he appreciated the expo and different presentations made by various organisations and challenged them to improve in the area of service execution. Ends