13 Nov 2025

Botswana’s tourism sector is undergoing transformation to be people-centric, says the Minister of Environment and Tourism, Mr Wynter Mmolotsi.

The minister, who is also the MP for Francistown South, made the statement in Parliament on Wednesday during the debate on the State-of-the-Nation Address (SONA).

For instance, he said it took the government less than four months to open Chobe National Park, to allow passage through the park after 6pm, a decision that had been in the making since 1967.

Mr Mmolotsi said that the Chobe community had, over the years, lobbied the previous government and their representatives to have the park opened, as they could not access even health facilities after hours. He said the development showed that government cared for the well-being of communities.

Also, he said after realising that communities in Chobe and North West were not adequately benefiting from their concessions, the government came up with the Community-Based Natural Resources Management law, to ensure that such communities benefited and were empowered.

This decision, he said, had brought hope to communities since they were now benefiting from their natural resources. Also, he said Parliament had allowed for eco-tourism projects in the forest reserves, which had been laying idle in Chobe and North West, adding that such projects would be run by Batswana.

Minister Mmolotsi further said there were issues of non-renewal of concession leases for businesses operating in Chobe and North West, leading to some businesses relocating, but the government had stepped in to address the problem.

The Ministry of Environment and Tourism recently launched city tourism in order to diversify the tourism product across all parts of the country, Minister Mmolotsi said. He said all efforts done thus far would ensure that tourism contributed more to the country’s economy as well as creating much-needed jobs.

Mr Mmolotsi said the economy was currently not doing well, which affected the implementation of some of the promises made by the UDC government, but assured the nation that the promises made by the UDC would be fulfilled.

He said that upon taking power, the UDC was faced with stabilising the economy and giving investors confidence.

Serowe West MP, Mr Onalepelo Kedikilwe, said he was impressed with the SONA as presented by President Advocate Duma Boko, as it pointed to the country’s true north.

However, he said as the government lured investors to the country, it was important to also invest in the local communities to ensure that employment opportunities were availed to rural communities. For instance, he said there was plenty of land that could be used by investors in the Serowe constituencies.

Mr Kedikilwe said it was not ideal for investors to be based in towns, as that disadvantaged those living in rural areas. Also, he said that the contribution of the agriculture sector to the economy was insignificant at two per cent, hence efforts for the sector to do more were noble.

By contributing just two per cent to the Gross Domestic Products (GDP) , the agriculture sector has almost collapsed, hence the need to revitalise it, Mr Kedikilwe said.

He welcomed the idea of increasing milk production in the country as that would benefit local economies. He also talked about the need to address shortage of medicines in public hospitals. health facilities. ENDS