The official tourism body for Botswana has changed its name as a result of the Botswana Tourism Act which started operating on the 30th of April.
The naming was graced by the CEO Myra Sekgororoane together with various tourism stake holders and parties. As usual, the role of the body remains the same, It was appropriate to change the name due to the many changes this institution has undergone for the last safari years.

The tourism act has it that the establishment of the B.O.Ds for Botswana Tourism as a governing body of Botswana Tourism with powers and functions different from that of Botswana Tourism amongst which are to advice the minister to change, review or formulate tourism related policies and strategies where necessary.

She also briefed the media on the Destination Stewardship Award Botswana Tourism Organisation recently won in Beijing, China. She said Botswana had entered the Okavango Delta Ramsar (ODRS) in the awards in recognition of the deltas significance to its surroundings communities and the country at large.

Botswana is one of the top visited travel destinations in Africa. Its Okavango Delta, Chobe National Park and Moremi area lead the top Botswana safaris places to see.

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The Okavango delta water is expected to continue to rise to unprecedented levels thus affecting even the tourism industry.

The ministry in charge of natural disasters has called for efforts to prevent the spread of water related illnesses and such is the case for the expected crocodiles and snakes that spread as a result of the massive floods.

The water in this famous South African river goes through Angola, Namibia and Botswana. The river is resourceful for its tourism support, irrigation as well as transport.

Botswana largely gets more tourists visiting the Okavango Delta and this may cause hindrances in Botswana safaris and tours.

These facts were declated to participants in the Spotlight Travel Workshop that was held a few weeks ago in Gaborone.This has caused excitement among the Gaborone holiday and vacation companies who will directly benefit from the World Cup, come July.

Malebogo said in order to meet the FIFA accommodation standards they had to renovate their hotels in order to qualify and their hotels are so far fully booked for the months of May and June due to the flooding of international football lovers into the region.

Mpho Nkoane of Avis, a car rental service provider, said they too are beginning to feel a boom in business because of the World Cup. She said their business growth is witnessed by their almost all out rental of their cars. “To keep up with the coming demand we have decided to increase the fleet of our cars,” she said.

The nationally-owned air service provider for Botswana flights, Air Botswana, is also set to profit from the coming World Cup as there will be a lot of tourist traffic passing through, or staying in Botswana in order to watch some of the games commuting from here.

The marketing executive of the latter, Daphne Osenkeng, said to keep up with the upcoming surge in tourists traffic, they have introduced a three times a day Johannesburg to Kasane flight as well as a Johannesburg to Francistown flight.

“To attract customers, we have not increased our fares and we have also introduced an online booking system for convenience; in that way, tourists can book as far as Europe.”

Simply Botswana’s Chief Executive Officer, David Kepaletswe, said his company, which provides a one online stop shop, is already starting to benefit from the World Cup as people are starting to book online. Kepaletswe said initially people were not into the idea of Botswana’s E-Tourism website, which offers customers an opportunity to view, book and buy Botswana’s products online. However, “ international tourists are booking in large numbers as they are used to the idea,” he said confidently.