25th April 2022
Sello Motseta
After more than 2 years of relative inactivity owing to travel restrictions around the world occasioned by the outbreak of Covid-19, Africa’s most acclaimed Travel Indaba is back at the Inkosi Albert Luthuli Convention Centre (Durban ICC) with local hospitality giant Cresta Marakanelo participating.
A recipient of the Association of World Travel Awards, Africa’s Travel Indaba is owned by South African Tourism and organized by Synergy Business Events (Pty) Ltd.
It is one of the largest tourism marketing events on the African calendar and is believed to be one of the top three ‘must visit’ events of its kind on the global calendar. It has built its phenomenal reputation on showcasing the beauty of the plethora of Africa’s best and most unique tourism products.
“Indaba brings international, regional and local buyers and exhibitors as well as media houses across the globe under one roof to come and showcase the unique destinations, tourist attractions and their offerings,” said Wame Masike, Group Area Sales Manager – North for Cresta Marakanelo.
She said, “It has enabled us to network with buyers and other exhibitors and most importantly to showcase our products.”
The Cresta Marakanelo hospitality group has attended the much vaunted Travel Expo a staggering five times and so does not need its value add to be extolled. It has long been a convert to the cause.
This is significant because Tourism contributed 13.1% of Botswana’s GDP in 2019, increasing to 66.3% in 2020. In 2019, travel and tourism accounted for 8.9% of total employment in Botswana.
It therefore continues to be one of Botswana fundamental economic sectors having contributed greatly to government revenue and boosts macro businesses. It is the greatest foreign income earners after mining which accounts for about two thirds of Botswana’s foreign export earnings.
Industry participants in Botswana and abroad extol the country’s unique natural resources that provide it with a significant advantage in the tourism sector.
Tourism is a major contributor to the national economy and has tremendous potential for growth with most business analysts estimating it accounts for less than 10% of GDP.
Yet this flourishing sector continues to grow steadily offering opportunities for both local entrepreneurs and international investors. Joint ventures are being sought for hotel expansions and start-ups along the Trans-Kalahari Highway, joining Botswana and Namibia especially with the development of lodges in the Kgalagadi Trans-frontier Park, Central Kalahari Game Reserve, Makgadikgadi Pans National Park, and forest reserves surrounding Chobe National Park.
A memorandum of understanding to establish a trans-frontier conservation area, commonly referred to as the Limpopo/Shashe Transfrontier Conservation Area (TFCA), was signed in June 2006.
This is a unique partnership between the governments of Botswana, South Africa, and Zimbabwe, the private sector, and the local communities to create new opportunities for eco-tourism. The TFCA was renamed the Greater Mapungubwe TFCA on June 19, 2009.
The Greater Mapungubwe is similar in concept to the Kavango-Zambezi (KAZA) TFCA that seeks to connect Protected Areas in Zambia, Botswana, Namibia, Zimbabwe, and Angola. Member countries are working to simplify travel between protected areas in the five-country region through the implementation of the KAZA UniVisa for Botswana and the region.
Tourism sector development often results in improvements in basic infrastructure of developing countries, such as airports, roads, water supply, energy, and medical services. This is not lost to stakeholders who struggled to keep the ball rolling without international tourists.
Masike, said “We worked despite the lockdowns. We conducted webinars, virtual meetings and site tours with all our customers, both local and international. Relationship management proved to be very vital and key during this difficult time. If these had not been in place, we could have been telling a different story.”
However, the sector was hit particularly hard by COVID-19, with revenues falling by close to 95% according to tour operators. The Government’s recovery plan which marketed Botswana as one of the safest places to visit was thwarted in 2021 as Botswana became one of countries with the highest per capita COVID-19 infection rates.
COVID-19 dramatically and adversely affected GDP growth, despite a range of measures implemented by Government through the short-term Economic Stabilization Package in the first half of 2020 and the Economic Recovery and Transformation Plan (ERTP). Economic growth in 2020 was minus 8.5
percent, while robust recovery of 9.7 percent growth is being estimated for 2021.
Over the two years since the start of the pandemic and the last Travel Indaba, overall growth in the sector was approximately zero. Unemployment rose to 26.0 percent in the fourth quarter of 2021, up from 22.2 percent in the fourth quarter of 2019, before the pandemic.
COVID-19 had a huge fiscal impact, resulting in large budget deficits.
Botswana’s Finance Ministry of Finance has forecast budget deficits to total P26.6 billion over the 2020/2021 and 2021/2022 financial years, compared to a surplus of P7.9 billion originally projected in NDP.
Inevitably, this is likely to to be funded by a combination of drawdowns from the accumulated savings in the Government Investment Account (GIA), and additional borrowing from domestic and external sources.
Stakeholders continue to believe not enough has been done to market Botswana internationally.
Botswana tourism has focused almost exclusively on high-end consumers and Government is interested in expanding into the mid-range market. Providing consistent quality service remains a consistent challenge and Cresta continues to set the bar locally by adhering to international best practice.
“We are selling more than just accommodation. Cresta believes in offering true African, Heart and Soul experiences. We believe in engraving memorable stays on our customers minds and creating memorable moments that will forever connect them to the Cresta African Hospitality,” said Masike.
She said, “We need our advocates such as the Ministry of Environment, Wildlife and Tourism, and the Botswana Tourism Organization (BTO) to take Botswana to the world through global travel shows such as Indaba. We need to give the world confidence on travelling to Botswana and ensure Botswana restores its former glory as the destination of choice.”
