For decades, Botswana’s tourism industry has been synonymous with a high-value, low-volume strategy – a model praised for its ability to maximise socio-economic benefits while minimising negative environmental impacts. But, as pressure grows to ensure a wider pool of local players benefit from the lucrative safari sector, this long-held narrative is changing.
A growing number of properties are emerging in the mid-market space, many of them citizen-owned and operating under community-led leases. Tessa Bell, Co-Founder of The Pack, which markets a portfolio of mid-range lodges in Botswana, says this shift is a result of government coming to realise that some concessions are large enough to accommodate a higher bed count without compromising on the wilderness experience.
“Also the policy has changed so that, as leases are being renewed, they are going to communities,” says Bell, adding that these community-led leases are allowing new, independent operators to enter the market at a price point previously unavailable in Botswana – the sub-US$1 000 pppn category.
These new mid-range lodges may forego some of the bells and whistles associated with ultra-luxury but they still deliver a high-quality experience in pristine wildlife areas. This simpler offering is not necessarily only targeted at budget-conscious travellers but also those who feel a “back-to-basics” lodge is more fitting with their preferred travel style.
Expanding the middle ground
Chris Roche, Co-Founder of Wild Expeditions, which operates Karangoma in the Okavango Delta, agrees it’s time to widen the market.
“Botswana has rightly been known as the pioneer of low-volume and high-value tourism in Africa, and this model has served the country well for 30 or 40 years and is still the bedrock of the industry here, particularly in the Okavango,” says Roche. “Nonetheless, the country has long experimented with diversification into higher-volume tourism at more affordable price points. Chobe is a case in point.”
Even parts of the Okavango – most notably Khwai – have recently started catering to a more affordable niche, he adds. “Every country has some obligation to enable access to its natural heritage for its own citizens. Therefore, it is important to broaden the price range to widen accessibility. Mid-range is still beyond the reach of the majority of citizens but more affordable options are emerging.”
Beyond accessibility, Roche believes mid-range tourism has a key role to play in expanding conservation footprints. “Tourism has such a powerful role to play in extending and expanding wildlife areas, and in the areas on the edge of core wildlife zones, mid-range tourism is best suited as a land use that benefits wildlife and people.”
Breaking the pricing myth
Despite this shift, there’s still widespread disbelief within the travel trade that Botswana remains out of reach for anyone not spending over US$2 000 pppn.
“I challenge people to ask themselves: who is shaping that narrative? Because it’s often the larger, well-established players with bigger voices whose business models benefit from keeping things exclusive,” says Bell. She believes Botswana doesn’t need to choose between exclusivity and accessibility – both can easily co-exist. “There’s a fear factor that kicks in that, if you open it up, you’ll ruin it. But you can preserve ultra-luxury experiences while also creating space for new operators and a wider range of travellers. It’s not an either-or.”
Roche agrees that industry perceptions have yet to catch up. “Botswana’s brand has, for so long and so successfully, stood for low volume and high value. As a result, the potential perception in some quarters of the industry is that this is all it offers,” he says.
“The emergence of sufficient camps at a mid-range to form a circuit is also relatively recent so has not yet become entrenched in the industry. This is changing quickly though,” adds Roche.
Old tropes and new narratives
Part of the challenge in shifting perceptions, says Bell, lies in decades of marketing Botswana as an untouched wilderness where visitors can expect complete solitude.
This image, while appealing, has reinforced a model where only ultra-luxury experiences are seen as viable, often to the detriment of wider community participation and sustainable industry growth.
“It sets an expectation of those areas being kept like that in perpetuity, which means that it’s for the few. And it’s for the few in terms of guests able to experience it and in terms of businesses able to offer it,” adds Bell.
Roche agrees that the “total isolation” message still dominates but believes it shouldn’t be the only narrative. “I think this positioning is deeply rooted in older narratives but is, nonetheless, still relevant – perhaps increasingly so in our relentless global village and the onslaught of technology,” he says.
“In our own world at Wild Expeditions, we try to ensure we offer our guests the juxtaposition of this experience – what we call ‘the Robert Redford romance of Out of Africa’ – with the realities of modern African conservation. We want our guests to experience the notion of an undisturbed, intact ecosystem separate from the modern world but, equally, the reality of daily life in traditional communities on the edge of these areas – where they live with wildlife and often pay the daily costs of doing so through human-wildlife conflict.”
Roche says: “We want our guests to see Africa as an environmental and cultural experience, and to come to understand how these two things are inextricably intertwined.”
