New data shows extent of tourism’s COVID-19 collapse
Katlego Isaacs - Mbongeni Mguni | Monday May 30, 2022 14:16
The numbers provide a glimpse into the impact of the pandemic on one of the country’s key economic sectors, a key foreign currency earner, downstream value distributor and employer. While Statistics Botswana publishes annual tourism arrivals, the WTTC’s research reports include trends in employment, tourist spend and contributions of the travel and tourism sector to the economy.
Like other countries, the local tourism industry was hard hit by COVID-19’s arrival, as local and international borders closed between March and December 2020. Even after the limited reopening in December, arrivals from key markets such as Europe and the US were limited by travel restrictions between their countries, all along the transit routes and on arrival in Botswana.
The Hospitality and Tourism Association of Botswana (HATAB) has also noted that after borders were reopened in December 2020, tourists from traditional markets could not readily travel to the country as their insurance providers were wary of the State of Emergency (SoE).
The WTTC report indicates that for the first time, the local tourism sector in 2020 had to rely on local tourists for its revenues, as opposed to external arrivals. For that year, spending by Batswana in travel and tourism is estimated to have reached P3.3 billion, compared to P1.4 billion for external arrivals.
In 2019, foreign tourists spent nearly P6 billion in the country’s travel and tourism sectors, compared to P4.9 billion by locals. In 2020, however, with borders closed, concerted efforts by both government and private companies were mounted to attract more domestic spending.
The removal of the SoE in September 2021 looked to have provided a window of hope for the tourism sector, but barely two months later, the discovery of Omicron again led to travel bans against Botswana and other SADC states, halting the sector’s recovery.
As the tourism and travel sector enters its peak season, traditionally between April and September, operators are once again reaching for hope of recovery.
Environment, Wildlife & Tourism minister, Philda Kereng recently applauded the sector’s resilience for having survived the worst of the global pandemic and said current conditions set it on a “straight path” to build back better with the lessons learnt.
“The fact that we built, crashed, and rebuilt again shows just what we can do,” Kereng said at HATAB’s recent 40th annual conference.
“When you rebuild, you have to rebuild better than before from what you’ve learned, and what I learned was that you were all so resilient and for that I have to salute you for being a forward looking industry.”
Some of the lessons tourism and travel operators were forced to learn quickly include how to strategise around bookings, as many of them persuaded their international clients to postpone and not cancel their travel plans. In addition, many operators developed tight COVID-19 protocols and enhanced the attractiveness of their domestic packages, including lowering access fees for the high value products in the Okavango Delta.
Directors and executives also took pay cuts to minimise the impact on workers, while shift work was introduced as an alternative to mass lay-offs.
The industry also took advantage of government’s extended wage subsidy for the tourism sector, to keep afloat while waiting for conditions to improve.
Kereng expressed hope that the efforts made by the government and the private sector would return Botswana to its former glory as the dominant force in global tourism, despite the long recovery path ahead.
“We know we lost business, we know we lost employees, we even thought of closing our businesses, but we didn’t,” she said.
“We as the government made sure that we met our stakeholders halfway at all times with initiatives such as allowing privately chartered flights for essential transportation and using accommodation venues as quarantine centres.”
As the region opens up at the same time, the competitiveness of the different tourism packages is once again heating up. Kereng said government intends to leverage on the country’s position within the heart of the region to woo arrivals.
“Sitting at the heart of SADC, we know we have abundant opportunities for travel into the country.
“We know that travel can often be expensive and difficult coming into Botswana, so we have decided to look into how we can ease travel into Botswana for our regional tourists.”
Already, operators in the key tourism spot of Kasane are reporting rising numbers of arrivals as the peak season warms up.
General Manager of Travelodge Kasane, Todd Chivese, said the number of flights coming into Kasane are enough to inspire confidence.
“We’re seeing a lot of planes flying in, and that means more people are looking for places to sleep.
“We have primed ourselves to be the top choice for everyone coming into Kasane,” he said.
Chivese added: “Although we did suffer, the government decided to be cautious about opening our borders and I feel they took the right steps in the right direction.
“The president has been doing a fantastic job to market us in the international markets to make sure we recover, there’s no doubt about that.”
The efforts operators made to remain afloat during the worst times of the pandemic and the moves by government to support the industry appear to be paying off.
High numbers of tourists from key source markets in the European Union have become a regular site in Kasane, as they head off to fulfil their bookings in the Delta.
One of the arrivals, German solo tourist, Hans Franken, 63, said the COVID-19 restrictions did not stop him from pursuing his dream to travel to Africa and Botswana specifically.
“I didn’t know anything about Botswana.
“I only knew that there is a country called Botswana.
“I knew about Namibia and I always wanted to see it, but our travel package included seeing Namibia, Botswana, and Zimbabwe.
“I’m very happy we stopped here because the country is exactly what I was looking for when I told myself I want to see Africa,” Franken said.
He added: “I’m old and I won’t be able to travel for much longer.
“I knew I always wanted to see Africa before I die.
“The silly COVID tests did not bother me and in fact, I had planned this trip long before COVID started.”
Franken was a part of a group of 18 German tourists passing through the country with ATC Namibia, a Namibian travel company focussed on attracting Europeans into exploring Southern Africa.
Should the anecdote from the lone German tourist be a good indication of things to come, the country should expect robust recovery for the tourism sector this year and beyond.