Botswana named among 2017 best tourist destinations
The venerable New York Times has voted Botswana among the best 52 countries of the world to visit in 2017 citing the ‘Okavango Delta that’s rife with lions, elephants and species specific to northern Botswana like the red lechwe’.
Many travelers across the globe use such information when they decide on places to visit. Last year, Lonely Planet ranked Botswana the number one destination in the world to travel to in 2016, acclaiming the country as ‘progressive, enlightened – but above all, invigoratingly wild’.
Botswana is endowed with many tourism sites and is home to the world’s second largest game reserve – the Central Kalahari Game Reserve. The desert country is well known for having some of the best wilderness and wildlife areas on the African continent.
Botswana is the last stronghold for a number of endangered bird and mammal species, including Wild Dog, Cheetah, Brown Hyena, Cape Vulture, Wattled Crane, Kori Bustard, and Pel’s Fishing Owl.
“If you’ve seen an African wildlife documentary in the last 30 years, chances are good that the filmmakers Dereck and Beverly Joubert had a hand in it. This spring the Jouberts, National Geographic explorers in residence, along with the company Great Plains Conservation, will open Duba Plains Camp, a luxury tented camp in a private 77,000-acre portion of the Okavango Delta that’s rife with lions, elephants and species specific to northern Botswana like the red lechwe. Expect safaris on boats with built-in camera mounts (when water levels allow) and a chance to see the descendants of Ma di Tau, the star of “The Last Lions.” Read an excerpt from New York Times.
The tourism sector plays an important role in the economy of Botswana. The World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC) 2015 report showed that the direct contribution of travel and tourism to Botswana’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in 2014 was P6.2 billion up from P5.2 billion in 2013.
The report also stated that travel and tourism generated 32,000 jobs directly in 2014, constituting 4.6 of total formal employment.
