Tourism operators urged to venture into agritourism
Chakalisa Dube | Tuesday May 5, 2015 12:31
Head of regional office for Africa at the Centre for the Development of Enterprise, Dr Sid Boubekeur, proposed this at the Hospitality and Tourism Association of Botswana (HATAB) annual conference here recently.
Already a popular trend in Europe and Australia, ‘farm stays’ are described as agritourism where a farmer opens up her/his place to tourists where they learn how a farm operates and at the same time offer a peaceful environment to the visitors.
Boubekeur explained that this type of tourism is very popular among certain tourist groups internationally and would be an additional attraction to Botswana´s tourism industry.
“Visitors would spend a day or possibly two or three days in order to experience the life on a huge cattle farm to understand the challenges and daily life of farmers for example. This would be a key to experience the ‘genuine’ Botswana,” he said.
He also urged tourism businesses to capitalise on the opportunity.
According to Boubeker, ‘village stay’ was also proposed as another unique opportunity to provide a natural and sustainable experience to tourist attraction. Village stay is a form of tourism in which visitors are given the chance to go to villages, mingle with locals in order to exprience their (locals) way of life.
Amongst new profile of EU tourists, there is a clear trend to experience a country at its roots, said Boubekeur. “Only minimal requirements are needed to enable a community to receive visitors for such types of tourism,” he said.
Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Environment, Wildlife and Tourism Elias Magosi also pleaded with those in the tourism industry to be innovative and exploit other untapped opportunities in the industry.
He also stated that the country has unique areas such as historical sites and a unique culture that could help attract tourists.
The Masai people of East Africa, for example, practise a tourism model comparable to village and cattle stays. Tourists who visit East Africa spend time learning about Masai people’s lifestyle.
They learn communicating with wild animals and developing native medicines. Tourists also learn how to make beaded traditional jewellery, milk cows and throw spears among other activities. The CDE is currently working on a private sector development programme (PSDP) with government of Botswana, European Union (EU) and the Botswana Confederation of Commerce Industry and Manpower (BOCCIM). The initiave is aimed at increasing capacity of SMEs in the sectors of manufacturing, agro-industry, tourism, ICT and public works.