Problems and prospects for the development of urban tourism in Gaborone and Maun, Botswana

Abstract

This paper draws on the tourism system framework to examine the problems and prospects of urban tourism in Gaborone and Maun, Botswana. These are young centres that have a growing number of tourist attractions, facilities and services that could promote urban tourism. The findings of this study, based on both secondary and primary data sources, indicate that urban tourism in Botswana is relatively undeveloped because there is no substantial domestic market, tourist attractions in urban centres are poorly developed and marketed, and city development plans and the national tourism policy are not integrated. The study concludes that, for tourism to become a viable economic sector in the country, urban tourism should be integrated into Botswana's tourism policy and city planning.

1. Introduction

Urban tourism can promote urban regeneration and economic development (Yeoh & Chang, 2001; Law, 2002; Page & Hall, 2002; Rogerson, 2002; Visser, 2002; Suh & Gartner, 2004). However, in most countries, particularly those in the developing world, urban tourism is not given much attention in national policy development, city planning and academic research. This is partly because the global tourism market has become more specialised and segmented, with nature based tourism dominating in most developing countries. For example, much of southern Africa's tourist industry relies on national parks, game reserves and other protected areas containing world renowned wildlife, biological diversity and natural attractions (Poonyth et al., 2002). The underdevelopment of urban tourism in developing countries means that its potential for regenerating towns and developing the economy remains relatively neglected. This case study of the urban centres of Gaborone and Maun in Botswana contributes to the body of research into urban tourism.

Evans (2000: 307) notes that urban tourism can be traced ‘from the Grand Tour, centuries of pilgrimage to historic cities, to the most recent post-industrial city regeneration’. As an activity, urban tourism has of course existed for centuries, but as a field of academic study it is relatively new and, in the general consensus, has been neglected (Ashworth, 1989; Law, 1993, 2002; Gilbert & Clark, 1997; Evans, 2000). Despite this neglect, urban tourism has since the 1990s increasingly become recognised as a distinct and significant field of study (Ashworth, 1989; Law, 1992; Gilbert & Clark, 1997; Pearce, 2001; Rogerson, 2002). Previous research on urban tourism, dating back to the 1960s, was sporadic and limited in scope, and generally carried out by geographers (Pearce, 2001). Urban tourism was neglected because tourist activities in a city were wholly integrated into other urban behavioural, functional and physical patterns (Ashworth, 1992; Gilbert & Clark, 1997). Pearce (2001) argues that the complexity of urban tourism has delayed research because of the need to disentangle it from other urban functions.

However, Pearce (2001) also notes that some progress is slowly being made in urban tourism research. Evidence of this can be seen in the recent production of several journal articles, special issues of journals (e.g. Tourism Recreation Research, 17(2), 1992; Development Southern Africa, 24(3), 2007) and books (e.g. Law, 1993, 2002; Page, 1995; Page & Hall, 2002). According to Pearce (2001) such research needs to address the complexity, fragmentation and lack of coherence within the field. This can be addressed by developing an analytical framework that provides a more systematic perspective on urban tourism (Pearce, 2001). Evans (2000: 326) also notes that ‘urban tourism requires the development of a coherent body of theories, concepts, techniques and methods of analysis which allow for comparative studies to contribute towards some common goal of either the particular role of cities within tourism or the place of tourism within the form and function of cities’. This suggests the need for theorisation and conceptualisation to advance the understanding of urban tourism.

Studies by Rogerson (e.g. 2002) indicate that from the 1990s there has been an increase in urban tourism in non-traditional tourist destinations, particularly in industrial cities. Cities that once sold themselves to investors as places of production are now increasingly marketing themselves as places of consumption (Harvey, 1989; Law, 1996; Rogerson, 2002), and the regeneration of cities through tourism has increased in the last two decades (Swarbrooke, 1999; Rogerson, 2001). However, urban tourism research is generally criticised for being North American oriented and Eurocentric (Page, 1995), though a few studies have focused on other regions of the world, such as Asia, the Pacific Rim and Africa (Page, 1995; Suh & Gartner, 2004). However, cities in developing countries such as Seoul, Bangkok, Bali, Singapore, Cairo, Johannesburg, Pretoria, Durban, Cape Town and Rio de Janeiro have become major centres for urban tourism in recent decades. Studies by Page (1995), Harrison (1992, 2001), Hoyle (2001), Ghimire (2001), Visser (2002), Page and Hall (2002), Rogerson, (2001, 2002) and Suh and Gartner (2004) indicate that urban tourism and domestic tourism in developing countries is growing. For example, Yeoh and Chang (2001) say that Singapore city planners are seeking to develop urban tourism by marketing the local culture. Hoyle (2001) notes that in Kenya the small port city of Luma is renovating its waterfront within the framework of urban conservation, and that Mombasa and Zanzibar's Stone Town are also redeveloping their waterfronts and are marketed as tourism centres. In South Africa, cities such as Johannesburg use the economic potential of tourism to achieve the broader objectives of urban economic development (Rogerson, 2002). Visser (2002) notes that Pretoria, Durban and Cape Town have been undertaking inner-city redevelopment since the 1980s and early 1990s to revitalise their economies. Urban tourism in some of the cities of developing countries can thus no longer be ignored.

Domestic tourism can be a vehicle for promoting urban tourism. Using case studies of Brazil, China, Thailand, South Africa, Nigeria and India to describe mass and domestic tourism in developing countries, Ghimire (2001) argues that in such countries domestic tourism is taking place without any systematic government planning and that the dominant official view sees it as receiving wealthy foreign visitors from developed countries. While Ghimire's book provides useful information, it focuses largely on domestic tourism in developing countries and the revenue it generates rather than on the role that cities can play in promoting urban tourism. Page and Hall (2002) provide a comprehensive view of the progress that has been made on urban tourism in both developed and developing countries, focusing on the demand and supply of urban tourism from a management perspective. While their work provides useful information on urban tourism management, it has several weaknesses that prompt questions, such as: Does low population density in some developing countries such as Botswana affect urban tourism development? Are there any differences between the ways cities in developed countries and their counterparts in developing countries attract tourists? Can one draw a hierarchy of cities in developing countries as tourist destinations? What forms of urban tourism can be identified and furthered in cities in developing countries? Are there any prospects for sustainable urban tourism in developing countries? These questions indicate that even though Page and Hall have made a significant contribution to urban tourism research, many questions remain unanswered, particularly in developing countries.

To contribute to research in urban tourism from a developing country perspective, this paper draws on Leiper's (1979) tourism system framework to examine the problems and prospects of urban tourism in Botswana, using the urban centres of Gaborone and Maun as case studies. It aims to demonstrate that urban tourism has the potential to significantly improve urban economies not only in Botswana but in other developing countries as well. According to Leiper (1979: 396), tourism involves three elements. The first is an origin or tourist-generating region, where tours begin and end; the second is the tourist destination region or host locality, where tourists stay temporarily; and the third is the transit region or route which connects the two and through which tourists travel. The tourist destination regions, as represented by Gaborone and Maun, are the focus of this paper. The tourism system framework recognizes ‘pull and push factors’ which either attract tourists to a destination or prompt them to leave the generating region (Leiper, 1979; Law, 2002). Cultural resources form the bases of tourism in urban areas (Law, 2002) and they can be described as pull factors. It is therefore necessary to identify and understand pull factors in Gaborone and Maun and how these factors can be developed to promote urban tourism in Botswana.

2. Study Area

Gaborone is in southern Botswana and Maun is in the north-west (see Figure 1). They are assigned equivalent status as primary centres in the Botswana National Settlement Policy hierarchy. Reminiscent of Christaller's (1966) central place theory, these are towns described as having ‘a high development potential’, ‘diversified and sophisticated economies’, ‘high order infrastructure and services’ and a population of at least 20 000 people (GoB, 1998: 17–18).

Figure 1: Map of Botswana showing the study area (Gaborone and Maun)

Gaborone and Maun are the fastest growing centres in Botswana, mainly because of the tourism boom since the 1990s, and have experienced significant population growth in the last two decades (Table 1), with Gaborone having 186 007 people and Maun 49 822 in 2001 (CSO, 2002). They are geographically far removed from one another and lie in different ecological zones. They also have slightly different major functions. As the capital city of Botswana, Gaborone has most of the amenities and conveniences found in similar capital cities. Maun serves as the district headquarters of the north-west region. It is a tourist hub, and the gateway to Botswana's prime tourist attractions such as the Okavango Delta.

Table 1: Populations of Gaborone and Maun, 1964–2001

Year	Gaborone	Maun
1964	3,855	4,591
1971	5,000	9,614
1981	59,657	20,941
1991	133,468	34,324
2001	186,007	49,822
Source: CSO, 2002.

According to the Department of Tourism (DoT, 2001), Gaborone receives the largest share of Botswana's visitors (44.8 per cent), followed by Maun and the Okavango Delta with a combined share of 22.7 per cent (10.6 per cent and 12.1 per cent respectively). As the leading tourist centres in Botswana, Gaborone and Maun can be assumed to provide a relatively useful and representative picture of urban tourism in the country. Their growth in terms of tourism development, human population and urbanisation justified selecting them as study areas for this paper.

3. Study Methods

This study largely used data collected from secondary sources including published and unpublished documents, government policy documents, and development plans and reports. Specific materials used were the Botswana Tourism Policy of 1990 (GoB, 1990), the Botswana Tourism Masterplan of 2000, Central Statistics Office documents on population growth in Botswana, Gaborone and Maun and on tourism statistics since the 1990s, documents on existing and potential tourism services and facilities in Gaborone and Maun, and other urban planning documents for the two towns. These sources were important because they provided data on existing and potential tourist attractions, facilities and services in Gaborone and Maun, factors that contribute to the low level of urban tourism development in these two towns, and information on tourism in other developing countries.

The primary data sources used in this study were questionnaires and interviews administered in Maun in 2003 and in Gaborone in 2004. Informal interviews were conducted with city planners and tourism officials, while structured and semi-structured questions were administered to household heads in Gaborone and Maun. City planners and tourism officials were interviewed to validate and update secondary sources and to discover their views of urban tourism in Botswana. Questionnaires were administered to household heads to find out residents' views of urban tourism and what benefits (e.g. income, employment, participation) it brings them in Gaborone and Maun. A total of 1000 household heads were interviewed in Gaborone and Maun (500 households were randomly selected from each). A list of households from the Central Statistics Office used for the 2001 Population and Housing Census was used as a sampling frame. Sample sites were selected from the 2001 census enumeration maps such that all the areas in Gaborone and Maun were spatially represented in the sample. Every third house or plot along transects such as paths and roads was selected for interview. Data was largely analysed qualitatively, with quantitative data such as statistics gathered from the questionnaires. Finally, some of the potential urban tourism facilities in Gaborone and Maun were visited for observation.

The limitation of the primary data sources, especially household interviews, is that they focused mainly on resident's perceptions of the existing and potential socio-economic benefits of urban tourism, such as income generation, employment opportunities and the ability to establish small- and medium-scale tourism enterprises, as encouraged by government financial schemes such as the Citizen Entrepreneurial Development Agency. The questionnaire did not obtain time series data on how communities have been benefiting from tourism since the 1990s.

4. Results and Discussion

4.1 Benefits of urban tourism and travel patterns of the Batswana

Studies by Ghimire (2001) and Harrison (1992, 2001) indicate that domestic tourism is one of the ways tourism can be promoted in developing countries. Domestic travel and local participation in the tourism industry are essential for developing urban tourism in these countries. Where the citizens travel and how they participate in the industry can thus explain the level of urban tourism. This study suggests that domestic travel and local participation in the industry in Gaborone and Maun are poorly developed. Most people in Botswana do not travel for pleasure. For example, Moswete & Mmereki (2003: 5) found that in Gaborone only 27.4 per cent of the 120 respondents they interviewed visited museums, art galleries and historic sites as tourists in Gaborone. As a result, they note that ‘Batswana still do not travel in large numbers’. This indicates that people in Botswana socialise differently from people in western societies. In developed countries, higher income levels, developed communication systems and the status attached to how individuals use their leisure influence the way people travel as tourists. The limited travel patterns of the people of Botswana mean that domestic tourism does not provide a significant market for urban tourism in Gaborone and Maun.

The level of local participation in tourism development can be seen in Table 2, which shows that 99.4 per cent of the responding households in Gaborone and 84.8 per cent of those in Maun indicated that they do not derive any socio-economic benefits (e.g. income, employment, participation) from urban tourism in their respective centres. The lack of benefits from urban tourism implies that local people do not generally participate in tourism development, as has been shown in earlier studies (e.g. Mbaiwa, 2005). This means that residents of these two towns see urban tourism as making an insignificant contribution to their livelihoods. Urban tourism is therefore unlikely to become a major factor in economic development in these towns unless policy changes are made so as to promote the involvement of citizens in tourism.

Table 2: Does urban tourism benefit local people?

	Gaborone		Maun
	N	%	N	%
Yes	3	0.6	424	15.2
No	497	99.4	76	84.8
Total	500	100	500	100
Source: Authors' field survey, 2003–04.

While urban tourism and domestic travelling for pleasure in Botswana are low, Table 3 shows that 91 per cent of the respondents in Gaborone and 99.8 per cent in Maun were aware of the socio-economic benefits of urban tourism (i.e. participation in and establishment of tourism businesses, income generation and employment opportunities) that could improve their livelihoods in the two towns. The respondents' awareness indicates that Gaborone and Maun could develop into significant urban tourism centres if their citizens' cultural services and skills are developed for the tourism market and they are encouraged to participate.

Table 3: Are you aware of socio-economic benefits of urban tourism?

	Gaborone		Maun
	N	%	N	%
Yes	455	91.0	499	99.8
No	45	9.0	1	0.2
Total	500	100	500	100
Source: Authors' field survey, 2003–04.

4.2 Tourist attractions in Gaborone and Maun

From secondary sources and observations, Gaborone and Maun were found to have socio-cultural facilities and services that could attract large tourist numbers if improved. For example, there are sporting and recreational activities such as golf clubs in Gaborone but these are used by only a few club members. The same applies to water sport activities at Gaborone Dam, which currently attract few tourists. There are also gambling casinos at the Gaborone Sun and the Grand Palm Hotel. In addition, Gaborone and Maun have conference facilities in most hotels and lodges, the largest being the Botswana Conference and Exhibition Centre in Gaborone, with a seating capacity of 4000, while the Gaborone Sun Conference centre has a capacity of 500 and the Grand Palm Hotel Conference facility a capacity of 350. In Maun there are three main hotels with conference facilities. These serve as pull factors that attract the local and to a certain extent the regional and international tourist market. According to the Department of Tourism (2000), at most times of the year these facilities are well occupied, as demand seems to exceed supply. The tourist attractions in Gaborone and Maun, even though in their infant stage of development, confirm Leiper's (1979) and Law's (1992) assertions that tourism in urban areas is mostly based on socio-cultural facilities and services.

Gaborone and Maun have game parks with wildlife in significant numbers to attract visitors. In Maun, there is the Maun Educational Park located almost in the middle of the town along the Thamalakane River. Gaborone has the privately owned Mokolodi Nature Reserve to the south-west and the government Gaborone Game Reserve to the north-east. These parks provide Botswana's wildlife experience for short-term visitors to the city who are unable to travel to prime wildlife areas in the north-west of the country. The Mokolodi Nature Reserve in particular has been host to two US Presidents, George W Bush and Bill Clinton. It is in the above context that respondents were asked to state whether the existence of game parks and wildlife at the two centres has the potential to promote urban tourism. Table 4 shows that 74.8 per cent of those in Gaborone and 82.2 per cent in Maun said yes. These results not only show the potential of game parks in Gaborone and Maun to promote urban tourism but also indicate the respondents' awareness of tourism development in their towns.

Table 4: Can game parks and wildlife promote urban tourism?

	Gaborone		Maun
	N	%	N	%
Yes	374	74.8	411	82.2
No	126	25.2	89	17.8
Total	500	100	500	100
Source: Authors' field survey, 2003–04.

As main centres, Gaborone and Maun attract a number of visitors from nearby villages who travel for such reasons as shopping or visiting friends, and for health and other related social services. Although some spend one to five days, they tend to stay not in hotels but with friends or relatives working in the town. Moswete & Mmereki (2003) note that the few people of Botswana who happen to travel as tourists complain of high hotel charges and this makes most of them stay with friends and relatives. While they do spend money on transport and food, their failure to stay in hotels and tourist accommodation contributes to the low urban tourism development in Botswana.

Although the nightclubs, music festivals and football stadiums in Gaborone and Maun are important tourist attractions for many young people, they are minimally developed. Despite this, they have become pull factors that attract visitors from all over the country and at times from the southern African region, suggesting that while there is little urban tourism development in Gaborone and Maun, recreational and cultural activities and facilities are slowly emerging as tourist attractions in these towns. There are also historic buildings and sites that could promote urban tourism. Maun has places of historical interest such as the Nhabe Museum and the Batawana royal graves, and Gaborone has the parliament buildings, the first Radio Botswana Station, and first statehouse, which could be important tourist attractions if they were developed and marketed as such.

Both towns have diverse cultural and ethnic groups that produce cultural artefacts such as baskets, woodcarvings, traditional accommodation and dishes, music and dance. They have local historical and spiritual attractions such as churches. Maun also has traditional donkey cart transport. If social activities and facilities were developed in Botswana's urban centres and attention paid to marketing urban tourism, domestic tourism in major centres such as Gaborone and Maun would increase and significantly contribute to Botswana's economic development. Urban tourism would also help revive and preserve the local culture. Tourism in Botswana would benefit from diversifying to include cultural products rather than concentrating only on wildlife and scenery.

4.3 Factors contributing to a low level of urban tourism in Gaborone and Maun

Several factors contribute to the low level of urban tourism in Gaborone and Maun. First, most of the cultural, archaeological and historical attractions in these two towns are not adequately marketed as tourist products either in Botswana or internationally. According to Leiper (1979) and Law (2002), socio-cultural services and facilities play a significant role in urban tourism. In Botswana, resources such as museums, national monuments, historical sites and ruins, rock paintings, cultural events, and sport and recreational activities remain untapped in terms of their potential contribution to the tourism sector (GoB, 1997; Mbaiwa, 2004). In other developing countries poor marketing of urban tourist attractions is also a problem, partly because little attention has so far been paid to them by city planners and governments.

Second, enclave tourism that has so far developed in Botswana in areas such as the Okavango Delta has been criticised for its exclusiveness and lack of strong links with the domestic economy (Mbaiwa, 2005). In enclave tourism, there is little interaction between tourist attractions and the host communities (Britton, 1982). Although Gaborone and Maun are the main arrival and departure centres for international tourists visiting Botswana's wildlife areas, holiday tourists do not stay in these centres, which reduces their opportunity for spending money there. Part of the problem is the marketing approach that emphasises wildlife and scenery in protected areas but pays little attention to cultural resources, as a result of which tourism in the country has only weak links with the domestic economy.

Third, the high prices for services and utilities in Botswana relative to other neighbouring countries keep the level of urban tourism low. For example, Zhou et al. (1999) note that electricity tariffs in Botswana are among the highest in the southern African region, and Mbaiwa (2002) notes complaints from safari operators in the Okavango Delta about high park entry fees and high prices charged by Air Botswana. It is partly because the country's growing economy has resulted in the local currency (Botswana pula) gaining strength more than other regional currencies such as South African rand or Namibian or Zimbabwean dollars that tourists from these neighbouring countries find services and utilities expensive in Botswana. Higher prices for services and utilities have a negative effect on urban tourism in Gaborone and Maun because they reduce competition and encourage monopolies in the tourism industry. For example, Maun has three hotels with conference facilities and has in the recent past attracted national and international conferences (government, academic and business). Interviews with tourism officials in Maun indicate that business tourists choose Maun because of its proximity to the Okavango Delta, where they like to spend a day or two after their conferences. But the conference facilities in Maun are monopolised by only three companies, which reduces competition and results in higher prices. This problem could be minimised by opening up the market to other investors to increase competition. When supply is increased, it should reduce prices and make the facilities affordable to the various tourism segments, particularly citizens.

Fourth, the national Tourism Policy (GoB, 1990) also contributes to the low growth of urban tourism in Botswana. The Policy places emphasis on the country's wilderness areas and the wildlife resources found in national parks and game reserves. The Okavango Delta and the Chobe regions in northern Botswana with their rich wildlife biodiversity are important tourism destinations in the country, particularly for international tourists. The potential of wildlife based tourism to diversify Botswana's economy led to the Tourism Policy of 1990 aiming to market national parks and game reserves to developed countries as pristine wilderness tourism destinations. The emphasis on wildlife and scenery means that other tourist products such as socio-cultural activities are neglected, especially in urban centres that have potential for urban tourism development. Urban tourism is not integrated into tourism policy or the town planning programmes of Gaborone and Maun. The adoption of the Tourism Policy of 1990 has thus led to a tourism boom based on wildlife and wilderness experience at the expense of urban and cultural tourism.

Fifth, Botswana's small population (1.7 million people in 2001) makes it difficult for a substantial urban tourism market to flourish as it might in countries with bigger and more populous cities. However, Gaborone and Maun could develop into significant urban tourism centres if services and facilities in these areas were developed and marketed to meet the demands of both international and domestic tourists. This approach is in line with globalisation ideas. Tourism in Botswana and other developing countries, whether urban, cultural or nature-based, can no longer ignore the global market.

Sixth, Botswana is a young country where towns such as Gaborone emerged after the country's independence from British rule in 1966. Before 1966, Gaborone was not yet a town and Maun was an isolated rural village. Maun became an important centre after 1990 when tourism in the Okavango Delta began to develop. As these are new and young centres, socio-cultural services and facilities such as historical buildings, theatres, concert halls, monuments to the country's great leaders or presidential libraries that would otherwise promote urban tourism have not yet been developed.

Although Botswana has in its past important leaders of the various ethnic groups and a rich socio-cultural history and background, little has been recorded, and that only in history books and not marketed as tourism products. The country has national figures whose stories and contribution to nation building are slowly being lost, such as the three chiefs (Kgosi Bathoen I, Kgosi Sebele I and Kgosi Kgama III) who successfully defended the country against incorporation into the Union of South Africa in 1910; Sir Seretse Khama and Sir Ketumile Masire, the first and second presidents of Botswana; and former opposition leaders in parliament such as Dr Kenneth Koma, Mr PG Mantate, and Mr Motsamai Mpho. The biographies of these leaders are not marketed as cultural tourism products – they do not have memorials like Dr Martin Luther King (Atlanta, Georgia), Frederick Douglass (Washington, DC), Abraham Lincoln (Washington, DC), or other national figures in developed countries. These examples show that cultural tourism in Botswana has not developed sufficiently to make a significant contribution to urban tourism growth in the country.

5. Prospects for Urban Tourism in Botswana

Informal interviews with city planners and tourism officials in Gaborone and Maun revealed that these decision makers are aware that urban tourism is not integrated into the national planning agenda such as the Tourism Policy and urban planning programmes. These officials attributed this problem to what they called ‘the wrong perceptions and thinking’ of previous decision makers about tourism development. They said there is a misconception in Botswana that tourism should be wildlife based and developed in national parks and game reserves for international tourists from developed countries rather than for locals in urban areas. This thinking is reflected in Botswana's Tourism Policy of 1990, Botswana's Seven-Year National Development Plans and District Development Plans, as these documents fail to integrate urban tourism into the national planning agenda. The misconception on the part of decision makers about urban tourism explains its lack of funding in the country.

However, there is a developing trend among decision makers to integrate urban tourism into the country's planning process and fund it accordingly. For example, the 2006/07 Budget Speech in the Botswana Parliament by the country's Minister of Finance and Development Planning, Mr Baledzi Gaolatlhe, reserved some businesses for citizens and provided assurance on how they can be funded. The Minister noted that ‘citizens will have exclusive rights to the operation of several types of small and medium tourism enterprises, such as guest houses, motor boat safaris, camping and caravan sites, mekoro (canoe), mobile safaris and tourism transfers and transportation’ (Gaolatlhe, 2006: 17). The Minister further indicated that financial schemes such as the Citizen Entrepreneurial Development Agency (CEDA) are designed to provide financial assistance to citizens in the form of loans to participate in small and medium scale business enterprises (Gaolatlhe, 2006). This approach by government is not only meant to promote citizen participation in urban tourism but also shows political commitment to a new direction that tourism in the country should take. This approach has the potential to promote urban tourism in Gaborone and Maun and other centres in Botswana.

The lack of entrepreneurship and managerial skills among citizens which would enable them to use tourism resources to increase their income is a recurring problem in many developing countries such as Botswana. These countries mostly rely on developed countries for the technological know-how and skill to exploit their natural resources, thus perpetuating a dependency between developing countries and their developed counterparts in tourism development. For example, tourism in Botswana is dominated by international companies from developed countries partly because locals are noted for not having the necessary tourism business skills that expatriates have (Mbaiwa, 2005). This indicates that education in the tourism business, particularly the acquisition of entrepreneurship, managerial and marketing skills, is vital for tourism development in developing countries. If people in Gaborone and Maun were equipped with the necessary skills they would be able to identify and develop urban tourism attractions and market them to potential consumers, which could promote economic development not only in Gaborone and Maun but also in other centres in the country.

The limited support for domestic tourism by governments in Gaborone and Maun contributes to a low level of urban tourism. Ghimire (2001) notes that governments in developing countries offer limited support to domestic tourism because domestic and regional tourists have low spending power compared with tourists from developed countries. Tourism in developing countries such as Botswana thus focuses on receiving wealthy foreign visitors from developed countries and neglects the potential of mass tourism involving domestic and regional tourists (Ghimire, 2001). However, since the 1990s there has been an increase in domestic and urban tourism in some developing countries such as India, South Africa, Singapore, Korea and Brazil (Ghimire, 2001). This increase suggests there are prospects for urban tourism in developing countries and thus a need for a change of attitude on the part of their governments to promote domestic tourism. In Gaborone and Maun these prospects are also shown by the high urbanisation rates first from 1966 and then from the 1990s. The change of attitude should include systematic planning and promotion of domestic tourism and the provision of infrastructure and social facilities for tourists.

Botswana, like other developing countries, has problems of poor roads, an underdeveloped transport system, traffic congestion and a lack of social services to attract tourists. The importance of transport and social services in urban areas should be recognised by city planners in developing countries. Air transport and local transport need to be revolutionised to promote urban tourism in Gaborone and Maun. Business tourists require facilities in urban centres, so convention centres, exhibition halls and hotels are vital. In addition, arts and culture facilities such as museums and art galleries, cultural heritage events and special events such as arts festivals require good accessibility and services to attract tourists, as do sporting facilities. The lack of sporting facilities and poor accessibility constrain urban tourism in most cities in developing countries. For example, only South Africa, Tunisia, Egypt, Ghana and Nigeria put in a bid to host the Soccer World Cup finals in 2010. It can be assumed that these countries felt they had the transport, accommodation and other infrastructure needed to host a world event like this, and that the rest of the African countries such as Botswana did not. This shows that accessibility and availability of socio-cultural activities and facilities are major factors for promoting urban tourism.

6. Conclusion

This study has shown that urban tourism in Gaborone and Maun is still in the early stages of its development. The forms of urban tourism that have potential in Gaborone and Maun are entertainment, culture and business. While urban tourism has potential in Botswana, it is not integrated into national policies and planning. This is because of the misconception that tourism belongs in national parks and game reserves for international tourists and not in urban areas. The lack of tourism development strategies and promotional organisation for urban tourism purposes in Gaborone and Maun can be addressed if city planners can integrate urban tourism into the economic development planning strategies of the two urban centres. This indicates that planners should give priority to funding for urban tourism development. In the event that urban tourism is given considerable funding and integrated into the planning process, there is hope that there will be improvements in transport, banking facilities, tourism infrastructure such as conferences and exhibitions, convention centres, exhibition halls and hotels to accommodate tourists, and sporting facilities and arts and cultural amenities such as museums and art galleries and theatres in Gaborone and Maun.

This study has also shown that urban tourism in Botswana has several problems, including the lack of a substantial market because the country's small urban centres such as Gaborone and Maun are young and have poorly developed socio-cultural facilities and services for attracting tourists, and the Tourism Policy of 1990, which emphasises wildlife and scenery in national parks and game reserves while ignoring other forms of tourism such as urban and cultural tourism. For these problems to be addressed, tourism in Botswana will need to expand its horizon beyond its present narrow base of emphasis on wildlife resources and scenery to include archaeological, cultural and historic sites, traditional folklore including music, dance, handicrafts and cuisine and many other related activities. Offering these tourism products should also help preserve the socio-cultural traditions of Gaborone and Maun.

The marketing of urban tourism in Gaborone and Maun should not be limited to domestic tourists alone since the local market is smaller. It should include international tourists as well. However, the small population should not be a constraining factor for the promotion of urban tourism in any developing country since tourism products can also be marketed internationally. In the case of Botswana, Maun as the gateway for tourism in the Okavango Delta stands to benefit from international tourists who visit the Delta from Europe, North America, Australia and New Zealand. Cultural tourism products in Maun can be marketed together with the wildlife and scenic products of the Okavango Delta. This approach can also be applied to other developing countries with similar resources such as Kenya and Tanzania. Developing countries should remove the misconception that they are only good for nature based tourism. Urban tourism can be recognised for its potential to diversify tourism from environmental resources such as sun, sand, sea, wildlife and forests to sporting, entertainment and cultural resources. Urban tourism should be seen as one of the economic sectors that can improve economic development and regeneration in developing countries.

Finally, urban tourism in developing countries needs to be developed to meet the needs of the global market. Page & Hall (2002) argue that urban tourism is currently being affected by globalisation. As a result, cities are regenerating and redeveloping to meet the needs of the global market and economy. They note that, through re-imaging and marketing strategies, countries are seeking to make tourism and leisure a way to assign symbolic and aesthetic value to urban areas, often in terms of their heritage or urban regeneration. This suggests that urban tourism in developing countries like Botswana stands to benefit from globalisation. However, it requires systematic government planning and funding for this to succeed.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Naomi Moswete∗

∗ ∗Respectively, Senior Research Fellow, Tourism Resource Management, Harry Oppenheimer Okavango Research Centre, University of Botswana; Senior Lecturer in Urban Environmental Management and Planning, Department of Environmental Science, Faculty of Science, University of Botswana; and Lecturer in Tourism Studies, Department of Environmental Science, Faculty of Science, University of Botswana. The authors wish to express their gratitude to Moipolai Seane, Department of Environmental Science, University of Botswana, for producing the map of the study area for this paper, and to thank all the interviewees, particularly government officials, tourism operators and household heads in Gaborone and Maun, and the anonymous reviewers for their valuable comments which helped improve this paper.

Notes

^∗Respectively, Senior Research Fellow, Tourism Resource Management, Harry Oppenheimer Okavango Research Centre, University of Botswana; Senior Lecturer in Urban Environmental Management and Planning, Department of Environmental Science, Faculty of Science, University of Botswana; and Lecturer in Tourism Studies, Department of Environmental Science, Faculty of Science, University of Botswana. The authors wish to express their gratitude to Moipolai Seane, Department of Environmental Science, University of Botswana, for producing the map of the study area for this paper, and to thank all the interviewees, particularly government officials, tourism operators and household heads in Gaborone and Maun, and the anonymous reviewers for their valuable comments which helped improve this paper.