24 Nov 2020

The recent announcement of the lifting of international travel restrictions as a way of stimulating economic activities has been received with ululations from the tourism industry; an industry which is almost at its knees due to the COVID-19 outbreak.

For Mr Brett McDonald of Flame of Africa the announcement of the lifting came well-timed as it will help open regional tourism for the months of December, April and July, the months that he regards as the best time to travel because the vegetation is all green and wild animals are giving birth.

Mr McDonald says while in the midst of COVID-19 strategies to promote local tourism as a way of reviving the industry were underway, it should be noted that prior to the pandemic the local tourism accounted to only about 10 per cent of the entire industry “perhaps because locals do not have disposable income for leisure”.

He says with the opening of the borders the industry should ready itself to receive regional tourists and as a way of positioning his company to receive African tourists, immediately after the announcement, he booked advertorials with South African magazines to inform them that the mighty Chobe is ready to welcome them effective November 9.

He notes that with the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic overseas one has no option but rely more on the regional tourism market.

Meanwhile, Air Link in a media release revealed its plan to resume passenger services between Johannesburg and Kasane come next month, an initiative that Mr McDonald applauds as it will make it easier for tourists to connect between South Africa and Chobe.

Mr McDonald notes that as players in the industry they need to make tourism affordable to the locals by offering packages that are reasonable enough to help the industry flourish and he is confident that as Flame of Africa they have something for everybody.

Ms Ndaruka Kamwi, the general manager of Flame Africa attests that packages for local tourists were designed with the same products for the international market but with half the price. “We realised that prices are too high for Batswana”, she said.

She says as a way of empowering upcoming operators they have given them a chance to design packages that include some of Flame of Africa products such as the Chobe Explorer, a moving liquid lounge, and the Chobe Style commonly known as VIP cruise because they are regarded as crowd pullers.

Tropical Tours and Safaris director, Mr Ndiye Joel says while the opening of the borders is a welcome development they do not expect any overseas tourists because the rainy season is usually a bad period for the industry and there is a second wave of COVID-19 in Europe and Asia.

“Even prior to COVID-19 the period October-February is usually a bad one for us because it is a rainy season and as a results not many animals go to the river but drink elsewhere as water is in abundance in all areas,” he says.

Mr Joel shares sentiments with Mr McDonald that the tourism industry should take advantage of the regional and local tourism to resuscitate itself from the COVID-19 aftermath while awaiting the March-June period which is a peak for European and Asian tourists.

African Odyssey general manager, Mr Reggie Morongwe warns that the opening of borders should be celebrated cautiously as the COVID-19 is a complicated disease.

He explains that his company’s main tourists are from overseas but have minority from South Africa. Mr Morongwe says the advantages of opening up are few as opposed to the disadvantages.

He attests that with the opening of borders it is unfortunate that countries will receive visitors who travel for shopping than for tourism purposes.

His main fear is that high volumes of travellers will increase the risk of amplifying COVID-19 cases in Botswana, “but it was the only option because countries depend on each other for a lot of things”.

A knotty question that Mr Morongwe keeps contemplating on is what control can be applied at the borders to ensure that only travellers who contribute to the economy of the other country are hailed.

Kavango Zambezi Trans Frontier Conservation Area (KAZA TFCA) executive director, Dr Nyambe Nyambe says the impacts of COVID-19 on the KAZA TFCA member states are far reaching although the full extent of the impact is yet to be established.

He says tourism is very important for KAZA as it is a key component for the region. He says KAZA is anchored on the spirit of cooperation, collaboration and understanding and therefore all public and private tourism practitioners in the five member states need to collaborate in coming up with strategies of how to inform the lobbying of the lifting of travel restrictions in key regional international source markets.

Dr Nyambe says there is need for advocating lifting of travel restrictions and working with businesses to apply new harmonised protocols and standards that meet international best practice requirements as well as adhering to the KAZA partner states health protocols for COVID -19 safe travel. ENDS