More fun as Makgadikgadi Epic returns
Goitsemodimo Kaelo | Thursday June 30, 2022 11:08
The event, which is organised by the Botswana Tourism Organisation (BTO), is making a return this year after a two-year hiatus due to the COVID-19, and promises to offer a spectacle scenery after the addition of new activities.
Responding to the Arts & Culture questionnaire, acting BTO chief executive officer, Tshoganetso Carl-Ponoesele said the event would offer adventure sky diving traveler three days of epic skydiving above the Makgadikgadi Salt Pans. Carl-Ponoesele said the occasion, which is geared towards promoting adventure tourism, would also offer patrons the best of fun and excitement.
“This 2022 edition, which is dress-code themed: ‘Safari-Chic’ has an all-new addition to activities inclusive of a 20 minutes-air display, Botswana Cuisine demonstration and food showcase with various local stakeholders,” said Carl-Ponoesele. Carl-Ponoesele highlighted that the new activities are in addition to the usual annual activities being tandem skydiving with professionals, fun quad rides, helicopter flips around the pans, fun horse rides as well as jet skiing to enjoy the scenery that the Makgadikgadi Pans has to offer with its dazzling lunar landscapes by day and the clear, star-filled skies at night. “Makgakgadi Pans is one of the greatest salt pans on earth, and that is all the more reason to include it on the bucket list for travelers,” she added. BTO expects the Epic to be even bigger and better on its return, with about 12,000 spectators expected to grace the event.
“The last event attracted around 6,000 spectators, therefore, our projection for this year stands at about 12,000 spectators taking into consideration that due to recent events cancellations because of the pandemic, anxious travellers and revellers alike are ready to get back to some sense of normality, looking forward to being outdoors,” she said. Carl-Ponoesele stated that the Makgadikgadi Epic forms part of a series of BTO annual sports and adventure tourism events aimed at diversifying the Botswana tourism product menu with a view to increase the average visitors’ length of stay.
She said the event has demonstrated great potential in terms of promoting domestic market growth and international participation, adding that multitudes of spectators from within and outside the borders have thronged Makgadikgadi over the past years to experience what the event has to offer. “One would agree that events tourism whether on a large scale or low scale, in no small measure usually always impacts the host communities positively.
The Makgakgadi Epic has been able to offer a significant contribution to the economic growth of its region and the labour market, creating occupation opportunities directly and indirectly through the supply of goods and the necessary services for tourist activities,” she added.
Moreover, she stated that the event has produced social benefits to the region such as youth, small and medium sized enterprises’ development and creation of jobs for local youth by encouraging their participation in the creation of developing new tourism products for diversifying the product offering away from wildlife-based products particularly in northern part of the country.
She also said the Epic highlights elements of host community enrichment and national pride, attributed to the meeting and interactions of different cultures and lifestyles that attend the event. Carl-Ponoesele said BTO has reviewed its programmes and projects to refocus on interventions aimed at value chain beneficiaries as opposed to being driven on a general direction, which is bound to take longer time and money before impact and return on investment can be felt. Furthermore, she explained that BTO’s adaptation of the value chain business model to its projects is underpinned by the principles of: Citizen economic empowerment, job creation, import substitutions, tourism product diversification and investment growth as espoused in the Botswana Tourism Policy and the partnership with MoE will ensure the event serves as an anchor to stimulate business development in the area, to support tourism activities.
For this year’s edition, BTO has also partnered with the Dare to Dream team for a school outreach programme intended to stimulate school children interest in the areas of Aviation and Tourism, focusing on children from the host area and consequently influencing tourism at grass root level.