NEW YORK -- Botswana is mounting an aggressive advertising campaign
for the U.S. market, according to Tlhabologo Ndzinge, director of
Botswana's Department of Tourism, who visited here as part of a
U.S. tour to lay the groundwork for the campaign.
"We have not done much in this market, but we have identified it
as an important market," Ndzinge said.
The campaign will include advertising in upscale travel and
lifestyle magazines, in newspapers and on TV, she said.
Botswana has been sold almost exclusively as a destination for
wilderness safaris in the past, focusing mostly on well-known
regions, such as Chobe National Park and the Okavango Delta.
But Ndzinge said she wants to promote awareness of the country's
other attractions, such as the Central Kalahari Game Reserve,
Makgadikgadi Pan National Park and the Nxai Pan National Park.
She also said the department wants to expand beyond wildlife
safaris and promote cultural tourism and ecotourism, with more
interaction between tourists and the people of Botswana.
Individual investors are getting on the tourism bandwagon, said
Ndzinge, "because they are realizing tourism can make money. It can
benefit everyone."