16 Jul 2024

Botswana, recently voted the best safari country for 2024, intends to rev up its quest to be the destination of choice within the tourism space.

This year, Botswana walked away with the bragging rights for being the best safari country, making it the fourth time the Southern African nation clinched the prestigious title.

President Dr Mokgweetsi Masisi, who graced the occasion together with the Vice President and other senior government officials, relayed in an interview during the airshow in Sowa on Saturday, that government would move in full swing to grow the epic come 2025.

“The show is already an international event, if you judge it by the number of participants, where they come from, and the values they expressed about it. We want to grow it from being an international event to being the premier event,” he relayed, adding that government intended to allot more resources to achieve the feat. President Masisi said, for instance, plans were afoot to bring in two C130 aircrafts next year to increase the number of skydivers.

The government will also want many Batswana to participate in skydiving, sparking further interest from divers worldwide.

According to President Masisi, the envisaged road infrastructure that the government intended to put up was yet another area and long-term plan that government wanted to undertake, something he said would make the epic more exciting and accessible.

Also, President Masisi was of the view that the success of the epic or any other tourism product, for that matter, required a multi-pronged approach, especially synergies with various sectors, including the media, which he said had the leverage to use the might of the pen to sell the country.

“Document it and show it to the world. This comes as a challenge to you as the media,” he underscored.

Although Batswana still had room to leverage the value chains associated with the show, Dr Masisi said the little successes achieved were encouraging and worthwhile.

For his part, the Minister of Environment and Tourism, Dumezweni Mthimkhulu, was happy with the way things were going, especially the ever-increasing number of skydivers from across the globe who took part in the annual spectacle.

“Our target for this year was 120, but today we have surpassed the target by 135 skydivers who floated the Makgadikgadi skies to the delight of patrons,” he said.

He was optimistic that if maintained, the momentum would help sell Botswana tourism to the rest of the world, which would increase the country’s gross domestic product.

Like Dr Masisi, Minister Mthimkhulu would like to see as many Batswana venture into sky-diving as a sport.

He said Batswana and sky-diving enthusiasts should brace themselves for a bigger and better show next year.

The Saturday activities were wrapped up with President Masisi and his entourage being treated to a spectacular bonfire and stargazing dinner in the heart of the Makgadikgadi Pans. ENDS