Domestic tourism can diversify the economy

Mmegi Editor | Friday August 25, 2017 11:01

With a few months before the beginning of the rainy season, and many of our dams still at a full capacity, it would be a good thing to try and turn some of these facilities into tourist attraction sites. Even more inspiring are reports that we are going to have good rains again.

Several years ago, there were attempts to make Gaborone Dam site an entertainment spot, but the idea was defeated by many years of drought that left the dam empty.

Water provides a good site for entertainment and that is the reason why every year thousands of Batswana travel to places such as Swarkopmund in Namibia, Cape Town and Durban in South Africa and many others where they can have access to the beach. That is also the reason why Maun is attractive to people who travel there to spend time on the Thamalakane riverside.

Domestic tourism can provide jobs for communities living around these facilities if there is proper coordination and accountability on expenditure of resources such as funds, hiring processes, and issuance of operating licences. Many community projects have collapsed because of corruption, nepotism, and selfish tendencies by those in leadership positions. Many countries have benefitted from domestic tourism and we can also be among them if we benchmark against success stories and implement in our context.

The ministry says it is going to invest P250 million on the Ntimbale Dam tourist site, but has not stated when it expects the commencement of works. This is a large amount of money that could be spent in building a hospital in some parts of the country where people travel long distances to access health services. We therefore implore the ministry to be more transparent throughout the implementation of this project to a point when it is operational.

Dams are built in secluded places, far outside the sight of the nearby villages and therefore a facility of this magnitude needs tight security 24/7 to protect the infrastructure and the tourists. We hope that noble ideas such as this will instil the spirit of innovation and creativity in government departments, inspire the old broom to give the young ones an opportunity to express themselves and take our country forward.

Today’s thought

“Exploration is the engine that drives innovation. Innovation drives economic growth. So let’s all go exploring.” 

– Edith Widder