Both government and international donor agencies now promote the use of tourism to alleviate poverty. The Botswana government has embraced tourism as a meaningful and sustainable economic activity and diversification opportunity, which now ranks second after mining in its contribution to the country's gross domestic product.The study reported in this paper investigates perceptions of stakeholders on the opportunities that would be created for the poor by opening up Botswana's forest reserves for ecotourism. Data was collected through mixed methods involving in-depth interviews with government departments, traditional leaders, quasi-government organisations and the Hospitality and Tourism Association of Botswana. Focus group discussions were also held with village development committees, Chobe Enclave Conservation Trust (CECT) and Kasane, Lesoma and Pandematenga Trust (KALEPA) members, and a consultative national workshop of stakeholders was also held. The findings indicate that opening up forest reserves for ecotourism has the potential to alleviate poverty among the disadvantaged groups living adjacent to forest reserves through direct (employment, small-and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs)), secondary (linkages/partnerships) and dynamic effects (sustainable livelihoods). The study concludes by cautioning that whilst pro-poor tourism may yield short-and medium-term benefits, in keeping with sustainability objectives, participants in the programme need to be mindful of forestry encroachment and come up with strategies to ensure the sustainability of the Botswana forest reserves. OPEN ACCESSSustainability 2014, 6 5698

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Zimbabwe has long relied solely on abundant wildlife resources to attract tourists. The government land reform programme has, however, resulted in the significant depletion of these resources. In this paper, cultural tourism is suggested as a complementary attraction to domestic tourists. The findings of the study, based on a questionnaire administered face-to-face, indicate that to enter this market Zimbabwe will need to build capacity in areas such as personnel, where frontline staff will need to be recruited, trained and motivated to meet customer needs. In conclusion, it is mentioned that the unstable economic and political climate prevailing in Zimbabwe militates against the development of cultural attractors.

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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.