Revised Tourism Policy comes to Parliament
Qcwihaaba caves and Tsodilo to be leased to Batswana
Five concessions in the Okavango Delta will be allocated to 100 percent citizen owned companies, consortia and joint- venture partnerships in order to increase meaningful citizen participation in the growth and development of the tourism industry
This emerged in President Mokgweetsi Masisi’s State of the Nation Address ( SONA) this week. Masisi indicated that Government has revised the Tourism Policy and it will be presented during the current sitting of Parliament.
According to the president the overall objective of the Policy is to facilitate product diversification, promote domestic tourism, increase citizen and local community participation in the development of the sector.
“Government launched the Tourism Information Licensing System ( TOLIS) in January 2020 for the licensing and revenue collection from licensed operations. “The system offers a platform to apply for tourism licenses, pay license fees, penalties and the training levy fee online, thereby improving the ease of doing business”. He said that government has restored the 80- year- old Matlapana Bridge in Maun in recognition of local heritage and stated that the community trust has taken over the management of the bridge for tourism activities.
On the other hand the Kgalagadi Heritage Trail was also launched to highlight and celebrate over thirty ( 30) key cultural and natural heritage sites for tourism, adding that communities have been engaged to strengthen four mini- trails at Bora- Vast, Gakhibane, Tsamama and 4- Hooks. Masisi revealed that the ongoing management plan for the Qcwihaaba caves and wider NG- 4 seeks to explore further developments in the area with the caves as the main tourist attraction. These and Tsodilo will be leased to Batswana and will commence operation by June 2021, he said. He explained that the above notwithstanding, COVID19 pandemic has reversed the gains previously made in the tourism sector.
He revealed that by the end of April 2020, it was estimated that 90.7 percent of all tourism enterprises had closed with only 9.3 percent still open primarily for periodic quarantine purposes. In response to these challenges, he said Government has made a decision to extend the wage subsidy support to all licensed tourism enterprises for a period of six months beginning July to December 2020, and to pay wage subsidies to freelance personnel in the tourism sector that were not covered in the initial wage subsidy of April to June 2020.
“As at current, all tourism categories have been opened to conduct business. On Community Based Natural Resources Management, hunting for the 2020 season was postponed to 2021 due to COVID 19.
“In addition, the Government has received support from the Federal Republic of Germany to a tune of P65.8 million through the Kavango Zambezi Trans frontier Conservation Area ( KAZA) and Peace Parks Foundation to provide community livelihood as well as wage subsidy for the personnel employed within the Community Based Organisation and freelance professional guides, chefs, Mokoro Polers within the KAZA region of Botswana,” Masisi said.