Botswana’s natural environment is a significant attraction for tourists, as highlighted in this guide. The government’s policy of encouraging small numbers of upmarket visitors to its pristine wilderness areas is proving successful within the overall aim of protecting the environment. In the last couple of years, however, the tourist industry has been thrown off balance by the knock-on effect from unrest in neighbouring Zimbabwe. This is largely because countries within southern Africa have elected to promote the region as a whole, rather than the individual countries, as a result of which many tourists choose to combine several countries in the area in one trip. Unfortunately, therefore, the problems in that one country have caused a drop in visitors to the region as a whole.
According to the Botswana Tourist Board, Botswana welcomed nearly 750,000 overseas visitors in 1998, although in reality only a small proportion of these were tourists. Visitors from South Africa alone accounted for nearly half this total. Beyond Africa, the majority of visitors, 38,755 in total, originated from Europe, with a further 10,346 from North America. With income from tourism valued at around US$204 million per year, the sector represents an important source of revenue for the government, and employment within individual communities. In order to increase the benefits from tourism without adverse impact on the environment, attempts are being made to diversify into smaller ‘ecotourism’ projects that will benefit local communities at ground level, and to offset the negative effects of a clash between tourism projects and the needs of local people.