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THE SOCIO-ECONOMIC SUSTAINABILITY OF TOURISM DEVELOPMENT IN THE OKAVANGO DELTA, BOTSWANA Joseph E. Mbaiwa Abstract The growth of tourism in the Okavango Delta in the last 10-15 years raises obvious questions about its role in promoting rural development. These questions include: To what extent is tourism contributing to the improvement of rural livelihoods and sustainable development? What is the role of local communities in tourism development and natural resource use and management? This paper argues that local groups can meaningfully participate in monitoring and in the sustainable use of the Okavango Delta if they derive direct socio-economic benefits from tourism, which is the main economic activity in the wetland. Instead of being the main actors and beneficiaries of the growing tourism business, the local population has become a pool for the provision of cheap labour to a tourism industry largely owned and controlled by foreign companies and individuals. As a result, tourism development in the Okavango Delta is largely enclavic in character. Attempts to promote local community participation in the tourism through the Community-Based Natural Resource Management (CBNRM) programme are not yielding any significant results as most projects are performing poorly. This is because local communities lack the necessary entrepreneurship and managerial skills, experience and training to run tourism businesses. Because of its enclave characteristics, tourism in the Okavango Delta cannot be described as being socio-economic sustainable. The co-operation and participation of all stakeholders particularly the local communities is vital if effective monitoring and sustainable management of the Okavango Delta are to be achieved. INTRODUCTION Tourism is arguably the world’s largest and fastest growing industry, accounting for about five percent of the world’s Gross National Product and six percent of the employment (Glasson et al, 1995). Most governments encourage