HATAB, BTO Partners With SA�s North West Province
Pauline Dikuelo | Monday August 3, 2015 15:47
The North West chief director of tourism planning Ishmael Kgokong during their regional marketing campaign in Botswana last week said this.
In an interview with Monitor Business, HATAB Chief Executive Officer Lily Rakorong, he said that this partnership comes at a time when they are trying to diversify the tourism products in the country.
He added that they have decided to be part of this event looking at what it can yield for their members and operators as they are also looking at regional migration.
Rakorong added that products of both northwest and Botswana are completely different and compliment each other.
According to Rakorong, this calls for both operators to collaborate, develop synergies in order to provide the services to the traveller as well as to the demand of the traveller. “This is a very strategic outlook for us in terms of this partnership, we will drive this through our members.
“We also target the domestic market. When people from the North West come to Botswana, they should be able to ask their operators where to go and they should be able to articulate the areas where they can lodge in and this can only be possible through these kind of partnerships,” he said
According to Kgokong, tourism is very important as it contributes to both the Gross National Product of both countries, highlighting that in her province they highly rely in tourism, mining and agriculture.
“Botswana is our key source market in the SADC region, due to its close proximity to the North West Province with more than 500,000 Batswana travelling to South Africa annually mainly for shopping, studying and visiting friends and relatives.” he said.