Botswana's travel and tourism competitiveness declines

MARANYANE NGWANAAMOTHO
Staff Writer | Friday March 8, 2013 00:00

Launching the report, which has been released by the World Economic Forum under the theme, 'Reducing barriers to economic growth and job creation,' the Permanent Secretary (PS) in the Ministry of Environment, Wildlife and Tourism, Neil Fitt said the report points to enablers of tourism support structures as the source of the setback.

Fitt said that the report identifies attitude to foreigners as one of the aspects that need urgent attention.Batswana's attitude towards foreigners has been ranked number 103 out of 140 countries while major challenges have also been identified in the information and communication technology infrastructure and the role it plays on tourism.

The tourism infrastructure is underdeveloped with a low hotel room concentration, a limited presence of international car rental companies and relatively few ATMs.  Although there have been some improvements, there are still concerns in the area of health and hygiene which has been ranked number 97. This is attributed to low physician density, limited hospital beds and insufficient access to improved sanitation.

Air transport infrastructure is at number 89 whereas ground transport infrastructure is at a low 99. Also, the country's bilateral air service agreements are not regarded as open thus ranking the 120th. It is still procedural to begin a business. It takes 61 days, which places Botswana at number 131. This is worrisome says the PS.

'There is need to coordinate efforts of all stakeholders that affect the performance of travel and tourism for the good of the nation. Without coordinated action, our performance on the overall will continue to drop,' he said.Further, out of 140 countries, quality human resources in Botswana have been ranked number 128 while availability of qualified labour has been ranked 138. This requires both policy makers, the private sector and individuals to address the issue otherwise the country will continue dropping in ranks, said the PS.

Fitt said that although Botswana's rank has dropped, there are some areas in which the country has done well. He pointed out that Botswana has been ranked 39th out of 140 for its beautiful natural resources, which is an impressive position. Beauty of natural resources includes the quality of the natural environment, total number of species, terrestrial biome protection, to mention but a few he says. 'We need to celebrate that we are ranked number one for terrestrial biome protection,' he said.

The PS said that the country has been ranked number 55 on environmental sustainability while the sustainability of the travel and tourism industry development is ranked 20th. Price competitiveness in the travel and tourism industry has also been said to be very good having scooped position 12 out of 140. 'This is due to low charges of ticket taxes and airport charges ranked 7th, and the extent and effect of taxation ranked 13th,' he said.Switzerland, Germany, Australia lead the world in terms of their travel and tourism industry competitiveness.