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Trophy hunting may return-minister

Last Updated Monday 02 December 2013, 23:26 pm.

KASANE: Botswana does not rule out the possibility of re-introducing trophy hunting in the near future, says Tshekedi Khama, Minister of Environment, Wildlife and Tourism. He was addressing international journalists last week at the inaugural Botswana Tourism Organisation (BTO) Expo.

: Tshekedi Khama, Minister of Environment, Wildlife and Tourism

Botswana's decision to ban trophy hunting effective from January next year has been met with huge criticism from players in the tourism industry both locally and abroad.

Tourism observers believe that the move could reduce the number of tourists visiting Botswana thus impacting badly on the country's earnings.

It is believed that apart from game viewing, trophy hunting was the major reason many tourists tour Botswana. At the press conference international travel journalists, mostly from Europe, also questioned Botswana's decision to ban hunting and sought answers as to whether the initiative would be introduced again at some point by government.

"It will depend on some information we will get while the ban is still ongoing. If we see it necessary to re-introduce trophy hunting then the ban will be lifted," a non-committal Khama said.

In the absence of hunting, tourists will from next year mostly come to Botswana for game viewing as well as visiting picturesque sites.

Tshekedi also said that apart from the popular notion that trophy hunting was meant to curb total extinction of certain animals (as a result of hunting) it was also intended to address poaching of game in the country that is spiralling out of control.

"At times security forces find it confusing to detect the difference between gunshots made by poachers and those made by trophy hunters when they shoot wild animals. When there are no hunters we will not have that confusion and it will help us deal effectively with poachers," he said.

Poaching wild animals and selling them, as well as killing them and selling their trophy, has now become a great business that costs the tourism industry millions of cash annually worldwide.

Tshekedi also told the one-hour media briefing that the Westgate Mall terrorist attack that claimed a sizeable number of lives in Kenya recently did not affect Botswana's tourism industry.

"Events that happened in Kenya did not have any negative impact on the local industry because tourists are aware that we are a peaceful unique country with a good record (of peace)," the minister said. Journalists from Europe had wanted to know if Botswana suffered any decrease of tourist volumes from European nations who may not have been eager to travel, to, around or between African countries, at the time of the Westgate attack. Europeans make up most of the tourists that visit Botswana.

http://www.mmegi.bw/index.php?aid=4495

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