Last week the chief of Botswana Tourism Organisation tendered his resignation from the state owned company.

Even industry insiders were caught by surprise.

But a closer look at the industry should provide clues that Thabo Dithebe was like his predecessor, Myra Sekgororoane set up to fail.

Botswana’s tourism sector has with time proved to be one of the country’s most stubborn industries to reform.

One of the things making this sector so stubbornly hard to reinvent is the commercial interest by our top political leadership in it.

Far from working for the benefit of the country’s tourism sector, the interface between political and commercial interests has wreaked more havoc.

Governance and strategic leadership have been the clearest causalities of these twin evils.

The latest resignation of a Chief Executive who has barely served a year in a substantive position is the latest reminder of the long-term strategic hurdles that the industry still has to overcome.

Other than diamonds, tourism is one sector whose manipulation by our leaders rivals what kind of corruption we can only see in such countries like those in Latin America.

It is however not too late to reform the tourism sector.

First the industry has to reduce overreliance on the international tourists.

This of course means cultivating, nurturing and growing the domestic tourism.

Secondly the industry has to charge competitive prices.

This of course means getting rid of their dollar denominated charges.

And lastly reforms should include tackling the evils of racism.

There is ample evidence to suggest that racism has become too intricately entrenched in Botswana’s tourism sector.

This is not just a matter of conjecture.

It is a reality that has also been painfully admitted even by Government.

In the past there were reports that a cabinet minister responsible for tourism had in the past been themselves a victim of this inherent racism.

There may be a case for concentrating our efforts into concentrating efforts into attracting the American and European tourists because of the world class and iconic destinations that we have in the country such as the Chobe and the Okavango.

But doing so at the exclusion of domestic market is a risk that can only come to haunt us in the long-term.

A failure to tap into the potential offered by the as of now almost non-existent domestic tourism can only mean that as a country we are losing out big time in growing this increasingly important economic contributor.

If we are to become a truly world class destination, we have to transcend the Okavango and the Chobe.

But more importantly, we have to outgrow our obsession with tourists coming from Europe and America and look at the whole world as our market.

Marketing resources need to be put into place to kick-start that potential into realizable financial gains.

It has not escaped out attention that focus on Europe and Europe has also come at the exclusion of increasingly important emerging markets like China, Japan, India, Latin America, the middle east  and other parts of South East Asia.

For the sake of earning more revenue, it cannot be allowed, much less make any economic sense that parts of the world with a population more than half the entire globe, and also with growing disposable income are not key targets of our tourism sector.

The story of Botswana’s tourism potential is a well beaten path.

What has been lacking has been diversifying the sector to include other forms of tourism like say entertainment, culture and even heritage.

And we are now at a position where we can be said to at crossroads.

Over-emphasis on game and wildlife, together with the exceedingly scenic beauty of such place like the Okavango has now reached palpable levels.

Unless we change tack, it is now only a matter of time before reality sets in and the true limitations of our low ceiling ambitions are exposed.