30 August 2002
	Tourism DEBSWANA PLANS NEW HOTELS By Brendan Ryan

De Beers Botswana (Debswana) - the 50-50 joint venture between De Beers and the Botswana government - is leading efforts to invest about R1bn in building three new luxury hotels. Debswana MD Louis Nchindo says the strategy underlying this decision is to help diversify the Botswana economy from its almost total dependence on diamonds. "When you look at where else Botswana can grow and compete internationally the obvious area is tourism. I believe not enough is being done to promote this sector of the economy," Nchindo says. Debswana plans to build a 96-room hotel at Chobe; another 96-room hotel at Maun and a 200-room hotel in Gaberone. Maun and Chobe are located at the southern and eastern gateways, respectively, to Botswana's top tourist destination, the Okavango Swamps. The Chobe hotel will be the first to be built, with construction due to start this year. All three hotels should be completed within four years. "The plan is to build hotel facilities that will be comparable to any in the world to put some meaning into the country's stated policy of promoting low-volume, high quality tourism. The hotels will be owned by Debswana - which means they are owned by Botswana - whereas many of the other tourism facilities in the country are foreign-owned. We don't really know if the country is getting enough of the revenues generated," says Nchindo. He is also keen to diversify Botswana's tourism business away from the Okavango into underutilised regions such as the Central Kalahari.