I went on to illustrate how our heritage sites are doing in terms of selling our country. In my conclusion, I asked this rhetoric question. What feature brands your hometown or village? Many people still find it difficult to answer this question for reasons that I will advance below.Botswana's cultural and natural sites such as caves, mountains, gorges are not considered by many as a place of tourist interest. The majority of people in this country believe that tourism has to do with visiting far away places such as northern Botswana where we find areas with abundant wildlife.
Our general lack of interest in cultural heritage sites means we often take them for granted. This trend results in wildlife inclined tourism. I mean, who would want to visit areas where no one is going? Although heritage sites such as ruins play an integral role in defining cultural patterns of people over time, they also need to be developed and marketed in order for them to attract visitors. Such marketing needs to be accompanied by development of essential facilities to render visits to such sites worthwhile.In recent times, the Botswana National Museum embarked on a rigorous exercise to develop Botswana's cultural and natural heritage sites for tourism. Managemnet partnerships with community organisations are being undertaken at many heritage sites around the country.
