Climate Change Adaptation Practices in Nature-Based Tourism in Maun in the Okavango Delta Area, Botswana: How Prepared are the Tourism Businesses?

Abstract

The tourism industry can contribute significantly to developing countries' economic development due to the increase in tourist demand that has occurred in recent decades. However, the industry is highly sensitive to the effects of climate change and destinations in developing countries, especially, should aim to ensure that their tourism operations and products are sustained through the implementation of suitable climate change adaptation strategies. The purpose of this article is to examine the existence and nature of adaptation strategies that have been adopted by tourism businesses in Maun (Botswana), in the Okavango Delta area in order to gauge their preparedness to the estimated impacts of climate change. This will be based on the tourism business operators' perceptions and knowledge about climate change. Qualitative data were collected by means of semistructured interviews and analysis of the results reveals that while tourist operators have perceived and expect negative environmental changes linked to climate, the majority of interviewees had not experienced negative impacts to their own business operations. As a result, the interviewed operators have not adopted climate change adaptation strategies. the continuation of this situation is a potential threat to the future success of nature-based tourism in Botswana, a sector of tourism that contributes the most to the industry, making it the second important economic sector in the country.