Will the middleman of Botswana tourism be missed?

Last year alone, it is estimated that local tourism made P100 million, a figure industry analysts say is only 20 percent of the total proceeds the bulk of which lined the pockets of travel agents overseas.Travel agents have been in control of Botswana's tourism industry for years. They design websites profiling their Botswana clients and conclude bookings and payments in Europe and the US.

When electronic tourism was launched early this week by E-tourism International (ETI), speakers hailed the new Internet product as a way to cut the middleman out. The launch of the Internet product to be known as Simply Botswana was witnessed by a number of tourism businesses who are expected to take advantage of the facility to woo tourists and travellers directly from overseas.