Gov't looks to double industry jobs through city tourism

Lesedi Mkhutshwa | Wednesday January 14, 2026 06:00

According to Mmolotsi, the industry, which currently employs over 58,000 people, is set to expand its offerings and attract more visitors, with a focus on diversifying beyond traditional wildlife tourism.

When addressing the Francistown City Council special (FCC) full council session last week, he stated that with the latest developments, government envisions a situation where the number of people employed in the industry will double in the coming years.

Mmolotsi indicated that they have plans and new ways. He added that they are hoping that if allowed to thrive, they should be able to yield more jobs.

The minister said that the country’s fortunes have taken a nosedive, and government finds itself in a 'dire economic situation', hence concerted efforts to revitalise tourism as a key sector.

He stated that the country needed to find alternative streams of revenue and growth.

'To make it a successful country, we need to look at areas where we can diversify our economy. “For the longest time, our economy has depended on a single commodity, which is currently not doing well,' he explained.

Tourism is currently the second most important income earner for the country, contributing 5.1 percent to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), he added. The sector contributes around P60 million annually to the balance of payments.

Mmolotsi stated that government has realised that not so much effort has been put into tourism, but a decision has been made to redouble efforts in the sector to help it contribute more to the GDP of the country.

The minister said that tourism has not been doing as well as it could because the product offerings have not been diversified, and for the longest time have mostly been wildlife-based.

“Most of the time when tourists come to Botswana, they go to the Delta, but Botswana can offer more,” he said. “Therefore, it is important that we make sure that we diversify the tourism products so that when tourists leave their respective countries, they come to Botswana to visit safaris and also engage in city tourism. 'On average, our tourists spend 5.1 days in this country, but we would like to add two or three more days so that they spend more nights in the country to spend more money like other countries,” Mmolotsi added.

He noted that there are countries that do not have minerals or oil, but whose economies are solely dependent on tourism. He expressed confidence that the ongoing efforts will position Botswana as a premier tourist destination, rivalling countries that have successfully leveraged tourism as a key economic driver.

“With its rich natural beauty and cultural heritage, Botswana is ready to take its tourism industry to the next level. “In our efforts to diversify the tourism product, we have decided that we should diversify the tourism product through city tourism, which was launched in Gaborone last year. “The idea is that we must extend city tourism to other areas in this country to attract more tourists,” he said.

The city tourism initiative will therefore be launched in Francistown next week, as a way of revitalising the second city.

“Revitalising the city tourism potential of Francistown as the second city supports the idea that every city and major city is covered when we speak about tourism development,” he said.