RESEARCH PAPER
TITLE: INVESTIGATING THE STATE OF CONVENTION TOURISM IN MAUN: CASE OF HOTELS AND LODGES
Composed by :Phemelo Oabona
Supervisor: Dr.S.Keitumetse
University of Botswana
Harry Oppenheimer Okavango Research Centre
GEC 431: Introduction to Wetlands Research
May/July 2009
Maun, Botswana
Table of Contents
Dedication
Acknowledgement
Acronyms and Abbreviations
Abstract
List of Tables
List of Figures
1 INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background
1.2 Conceptual frame-work
2.1 Problem Statement
2.2 Objectives
General Objective
Specific Objectives
2.3 Significance of the study
2.4 Limitations of the study
3 BACKGROUND THEORY AND LITERATURE REVIEW
3.1 Historical Review
3.2 Global Perspective of Convention Tourism
3.3 Botswana context and Tourism initiatives
4 METHODOLOGY
4.1 Study Area
4.2 Sampling strategy
4.3 Study design
4.4 Data collection
5 DATA RESULTS
5.1 Information on business studied
5.2 Financial percentage contribution of convention tourism in hotels and lodges
5.3 Carrying capacity of conference and meeting rooms
5.4 Attitudes towards the business of convention tourism
6 DISSCUSIONS AND RESULTS ANALYSIS
7 CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION
7.1 Concluding Remarks
8 REFERENCES
Dedications
To my mother Tapologo Oabona and my father Oabona Okgethile for their academic support and I hope they both feel proud of me.
Acknowledgement
It’s been intense for carrying out this research and I would like to thank God for making it possible to complete my school work. With gratitude I offer my thanks to supervisor Dr.S.Keitumetse for her guidance on research writing skills.I am so grateful to the numerous hotel and lodges in Maun for participating in the study.I would also like to thank my colleagues for supporting and encouraging me during difficult times to finish my school work on time.
Acronyms and Abbreviations
BDC: Botswana Development Corporation Limited
BEDIA: Botswana Export Development and Investment Authority
BTB: Botswana Tourism Board
BOBS: Botswana Bureau of Standards
CEDA: Citizen Entrepreneurship Development Agency
HATAB: Hospitality and Tourism Botswana
GDP: Gross Domestic Product
GICC: Gaborone International Conference Center
LEA: Local Enterprise Agency
WTTC: World Travel and Tourism Council
Abstract
The business of convention tourism in Botswana has been undervalued however it can be tourism diversification strategy since it’s a new and dynamic industry. Convention tourism is the business of a scale similar to that of Gaborone International Conference Centre (GICC) in Gaborone, Botswana. In its international context, convention tourism is a tourism business activity with extensive and flexible conference, meeting and exhibition spaces that markets to associations, corporations and other groups bringing people together (Ninemeir and Perdue, 2008). For Botswana, Maun in particular, this type of tourism is important because it can add to tourism diversification from wildlife and wilderness. Therefore this survey seeks to assess the status of convention tourism in Maun as the tourism hub of Botswana.
Terms: convention tourism, meeting, conferences, lodge and hotel
List of Table
Table 1: A table about research instruments and variables measure
Table 2: A table about graded and ungraded hotels
Table 3: A table on establishments offering convention tourism
Table 4: A table on financial percentage contribution of convention tourism
Table 5: A table about carrying capacity of hotel and conference rooms
Table 6: A table about market base as government organization
Table 7: A table about attitudes of convention tourism
Table 8: A table about of level of knowledge
List of Figures
Figure 1: A map showing studying area of Maun
Figure 2: A figure showing number of hotels and lodges in Maun
Figure 3: A figure showing different products offered in different establishments
Figure 4: A figure showing financial contribution of convention tourism
Figure 5: A figure showing seating capacity of conference and meeting rooms
Figure 6: A figure showing government organizations as clientele base
Figure 7: A figure showing response on convention tourism scale
Figure 8: A figure showing level of knowledge in different establishments
Figure 9: A figure showing interest of establishments’ in convention tourism
INTRODUCTION
Background
According to the World Travel Tourism Council (WTTC) satellite account for Botswana, tourism in Botswana has been largely dependent on wildlife based products and there is a need for diversifying the product into different portfolios like leisure tourism and convention tourism.Convention tourism is a tourism business activity with extensive and flexible meeting and exhibition spaces that markets to associations, corporations and other groups bringing people together for a meeting (Ninemeir and Perdue, 2008).Convention tourism is the business scale of Gaborone International Conference Centre which has a carrying capacity of up to 1800 attendees and they offer different services like accommodation and restaurant (www.venuesearch.co.za).
The convention facility is young, dynamic industry which is growing and maturing at a rapid rate. From origins in Europe and North America, it is now a developed international industry with well defined terminology, adequate market intelligence, appropriate education and training structures and clear entry route (Rogers 2003).
Conventions are part of the business tourism (or business events) sector, a major though often undervalued sector of wider tourism industry. Convention tourism is made up of the conference and meeting business which is a specialized hospitality operation designed for and dedicated to the needs of different size groups (Ninemier and Perdue,2008). Resulting from the greater demand for convention and meetings and in view of the industry’s potential economic benefit many destinations around the world invested heavily in infrastructure development for convention tourism (Webber and Chon, 2002).
Convention tourism have multiplier effect and lead to the development of sectors like the transport network particularly that of airlines. Tourism in Botswana is the second largest economic sector after mining contributing about 4.5% of the total gross domestic product (GDP) WTTC (2007).However Botswana tourism is focused on natural resources, thus there is a need for a research to be carried to assess aspects of convention tourism business and development within Botswana particularly in Maun as a tourism diversification strategy..
Convention tourism can provide an opportunity for product diversification in Botswana particularly in Maun which is considered the tourism hub of Botswana and has various lodges and hotels that readily provide accommodation and food to supplement the convention industry. Hotels and Lodges in Maun provide conference and meeting facilities at a smaller scale than in an international context as defined by Ninemeir and Perdue (2008).Within the Botswana Bureau of standard (BOS 50-3:2001) a hotel is defined as an accommodation establishment that provides breakfast ,lunch, dinner, and personal service for the convenience of the guests.
BOBS (50-3:2001) further defines a game lodge and camp as an accommodation facility establishment with fully serviced or self catering facilities situated in game reserve ,national park, or wildlife management area.
Conceptual frame-work
Convention Tourism: A tourism business activity with extensive and flexible meeting and exhibition spaces that markets to associations, corporations and other groups bringing people together for a meeting. Conventions can be either in a separate establishment (convention centers) or within other business like accommodation and food and drink usually a hotel or a lodge (Ninemeir and Perdue, 2008).In the research study different terms are used to denote the same or similar thing. Conventions, meetings and conferences fall in the same category with differences in usage and meaning on international level (Operand, 1996).
Conference: An event used by an organization to meet and exchange views, convey a message, open a debate or give publicity to some area of opinion on a specific issues. No tradition, continuity or periodicity is required to convene a conference. Conferences are short duration of time with specific objectives (Rogers, 2003).
Conventions: A general and formal meeting of a legislative body, social or economic group in order to provide information on a particular situation and in order to deliberate and consequently establish consent on policies among the participants. Usually of limited duration with set objectives but no determine frequency (Rogers, 2003)
Meeting: A meeting is when two or more people come together for the purpose of discussing a (usually) predetermined topic such as business and community event planning or event often in formal setting (Oppermann,1996).
Hotel: According to Botswana Bureau of Standards (BOS 50-3:2001), a hotel is an accommodation establishment that provides breakfast, lunch, dinner and multi-purpose public facilities for the convenience of guests Botswana Bureau of Standards (BOS 50-3:2001) requires that a hotel should have some of the following requirements:
Minimum number of bedrooms shall be five
Appropriate business license
Public liability insurance.
Lodge: According to Botswana Bureau of Standards (BOS 50-3:2001) a lodge is an accommodation establishment with fully serviced or self catering facilities situated in a game reserve, national park, or wildlife management area.
However, based on the study research, a Lodge is an accommodation establishment with fully services ranging from food and beverage, accommodation and conference facilities at a smaller scale than a hotel and not necessarily in a game reserve. The researcher has adopted this definition because according to the Department of Tourism categorization a lodge in Botswana can be in any place, like in urban centre or a protected area like a national game reserve or wildlife management area.
Problem Statement
Governments, particularly in the Third World encourage tourism investment to be diversified because of the assumption that it will contribute to economic development of their countries (hall, 1995).However tourism diversification still remains a challenge in Botswana tourism which is highly depended on wildlife scenery. A lot of studies have been conducted in tourism and socio-economic impacts and few researches have undertaken on hospitality and tourism in Botswana, therefore this study address the need of documentation on hospitality and tourism in Botswana. Tourism diversification is focused on resource rather than on service diversification (Keitumetse, 2009).
Objectives
General Objective
The aim of the study is to assess the state of convention tourism in Maun as a tourism diversification strategy.
Specific Objectives
To inventory hotels and lodges offering conference and meeting facilities.
Assess the financial contribution of convention tourism as a package in lodges and hotels in Maun.
To inventory the carrying capacity of identified hotels and lodges in relation to conferences and meetings.
Assess attitudes of hotels and lodges management towards the business of convention tourism.
Research Questions
I. Are you involved in conference and meeting business?
II. How much do you make from conference and meetings services?
III. What is the percentage of your business financial revenue is that?
IV. What other products do your establishments offer?
V. What is the carrying capacity of your conference and meeting rooms?
VI. What are the different types of conference and meeting facilities do you offer in your establishment?
VII. What are your future plans towards the business of convention tourism?
Significance of the study
The study is expected to help policy makers and the government in regulating the convention tourism and as part of the tourism products within the industry. The study is also essential to entrepreneurs who are ready to exploit business opportunities in the tourism and hospitality industry. This study will be important for providing a basement source for intraprenures and hotel and lodge management in business diversification.
Limitations of the study
The greatest limitation of the research was the fact that only 2 establishments were not willing to participate and answer the questionnaire since they feel this will consume their time and they pointed out that they would rather participate if they are given incentives. Since hotel and lodging industry is labour intensive business, business administrators in that hotel and lodge indicated that they need to given time like a period of 2 weeks for answering the questionnaire since the research is schedule for a period of 8 weeks time become a constraint factor in this case.
BACKGROUND THEORY AND LITERATURE REVIEW
Historical Review
According to Webber and Chon (2003) as long as there have been people, there have been meetings since the beginning of mankind and there is no recoded period of history of the origins of conventions or meetings. They note that archaeologists in their investigation of ancient cultures have found primitive ruins that function as common areas where people will gather to discuss public interest such as hunting plans, social gathering, or negations of peace. Cities in particular become focal points for human gathering (Webber and Chon 2003). In Ancient Romans for examples numerous building were used for debates and meetings. Many terms in convention industry came from Latin language for example, the word conference stem from “conferentia”, which means place to hear in Thompson ,1995 in Weber and Chon (2003) . The convention industry has experience rapid growth since the 1960s. With the growth of the industry and commerce the need for meeting business people and entrepreneurs materialized. As noted by Falk and Pizam (1991, p.111) in Webber and Chon (2003) meetings were not confined to business people and professionals but also extended to those individuals for exchanging business or political ideas.
Global Perspective of Convention Tourism
Convention tourism is business tourism that is essential for globalization and address critical issues in different parts of the world like North America, Europe and Asia (Webber and Chon 2003).
The main reason for operating the business of convention tourism is that it attracts high spending customers (Major, et al 1993) in Webber and Chon (2003).This is in line with Botswana Tourism policy (1990) principle of high spending customers in low volume. Tourism is one of the fast growing businesses worldwide and it is an important tool for regional economic and social development particularly in developing countries and adapted tourism as a diversifying strategy (Tosun et al1998) in Webber and Chon (2003).
Botswana context and Tourism initiatives
The growth of nature based tourism in protected areas is the niche market sector in developing countries like Botswana (Mbaiwa et al 2007; Keitumetse, 2009). According to WTTC (2007) the development of more diversified portfolio is strongly recommended and care is needed to ensure that new products are backed by sound business plan and incorporating research into the potential market for the new products. Recently a research study was carried out about the resident involvement and participation in urban tourism development in the two urban centers of Botswana namely: Gaborone and Maun (Moswete et al 2008).The study implies that there is a need of investigating other types of urban tourism like convention tourism.
METHODOLOGY
Study Area
The study area of the research is based in Maun which is the tourism hub of Botswana. The major tourism and hospitality industries considered in the study area of Maun are hotels and lodges. The town of Maun is the third largest in Botswana and it is a diverse mix of modern buildings and native huts and Maun has a population of 43,776 (CSO, 2001).
Sampling strategy
Census survey will be used as all hotels and lodges in Maun will be considered for interview. There are 5 hotels and 12 lodges in Maun area according to Botswana Tourism Board statistics (2006), website (www.botswanatourismboard.co.bw).The research study has focused on interviewing a total number of all establishments which are classified as hotels and lodges by BTB ,which is an association body in Botswana responsible for grading and categorizing hotels and lodges.
Study design
The research study undertaken is a case study of hotels and lodges in Maun and the status of convention tourism. In the case study the researcher collected data from different establishments and the data used included formal interviews and observations. The researcher also recorded details about the surrounding context about the status of convention tourism in Maun and the researcher spend some time in the field visiting different establishments in Maun. Basically the research study is assessing the status of convention tourism and describing the nature of tourism in the cases of hotels and lodges specifically situated in Maun
Data collection
This study involves the use of both primary and secondary data sources of information. Primary data was collected and recorded from the respondents using a developed structured and closed questionnaires .Formal interviews with the business management was be conducted to obtain relevant data in line with the research study objectivities outlined above. In addition observation techniques were used during the research study to gather data surrounding the research topic such as the physical appearance of a given establishment.
Secondary data source was obtained from department of tourism which was basically the statistics of licensed enterprises in Ngamiland Area. Data regarding the number of hotels and lodges classified and graded as hotels and lodges was obtained from Botswana Tourism Board website. Method of data collection in the research study is basically dependent upon the specific objectives of the study as indicated below.
1. Objectivity A
To inventory hotels and hotels offering convention tourism.
2. Overview
The objective is aim at identifying the number hotels and lodges which are offering conference and meetings facilities in Maun and identify the number of establishment classified as hotels and lodge by Botswana Tourism Board.
3. Data Collection
Data was collected from primary data sources by using formal interviews (face to face interview) with the use of closed and open-ended questionnaire being administered to management of different establishment. Secondary data sources available was used both published or unpublished work about hotels and lodges and the business of conference tourism such as Department of Tourism Annual Statistics and Botswana Tourism Board website.
1. Objectivity B
To assess the financial contribution of convention tourism in hotels and lodges in Maun area.
2. Overview
This objective seeks to understand the contribution of conference and meeting facilities in terms of revenue income on monthly basis or yearly basis. The percentage share of conference and meeting business as compared to the general business will be obtained.
4. Data Collection
Formal interviews will be used to achieve this objective as open ended and close questionnaire will be administered to hotel and lodge management .Secondary sources from hotels and lodges will be used to gather data about the percentage share of conference and meeting facilities in the past months or years.
1. Objectivity C
Assessment of the conference and meeting carrying capacity of inventoried hotels.
2. Overview
This particular objective is aiming at identifying the carrying capacity of the conference facilities in different establishments. Carrying capacity of the conference facility is defined by the size of the conference room and how many people it can accommodate in all and equipments will be assessed.
3. Data Collection
Data will be obtained through primary data source being, observations and formal interviews at different establishments. Observation will be based on the interior design of the conference facility and the size of meeting rooms. Secondary data sources will be used to compare with international conference centres standard such as Gaborone International Convention Centre (GICC) in Gaborone. The indicators for this objective: size of the conference room, meeting and conference equipments available, and number of people the room can accommodate.
1. Objectivity D
To assess the attitudes of hotels and lodge management towards convention tourism.
2. Overview
This objective seeks to understand the perception of the hotel and lodge management toward the business of convention tourism. What are the expectations of hotels and lodge management in the business of convention tourism and its future as a tourism diversification strategy?
3. Data Collection
Data will be collected through face to face interview and tool analysis of other data from objective. The main tool that will be used is direct field observation and the objective seeks to understand how the hotel and lodge management view the business of convention tourism in their respective establishment.
On completion of data collection survey, data collected in the form of questionnaire is processed and analyzed using a statistical package known as statistical package for social sciences (SPSS). The variables measured and assessed against one another as discussed before.
DATA RESULTS
Information on business studied
The research study basically interviewed businesses which are categorized as hotels and lodges by Botswana Tourism Board. The results indicated that out of 16 establishments, 3 out of 4 hotels have been graded and only 3 out of 12 lodges are graded (table 3) .The study research shows that more establishments in Maun area have not been graded as they are 10 ungraded facilities as compared to 6 graded establishments. The study found out that of the sixteen (16) interviewed establishments in Maun region, 25% are hotel owners and 75% are lodge owners in Maun region figure 2 below. According to Botswana Bureau of Standards (BOS 50-3:2001) a lodge is an accommodation establishment with fully serviced or self catering facilities situated in a game reserve, national park, or wildlife management area. Based on the study research, a Lodge is an accommodation establishment with fully services ranging from food and beverage, accommodation and conference facilities at a smaller scale than a hotel and not necessarily in a game reserve. According to Botswana Bureau of Standards (BOS 50-3:2001), a hotel is an accommodation establishment that provides breakfast, lunch, dinner and multi-purpose public facilities for the convenience of guests Following on these definitions and observations from the field, lodges are more likely to offer a small scale component of convention tourism (meetings) whereas hotels are likely to offer more than one component (i.e. meeting rooms and a conference rooms).
The study shows that the names of all establishments interviewed and the financial percentage contribution of each of the products they are offering. The business of conference and meeting facilities contribute a maximum of 60% of the revenue income of some interviewed establishments however accommodation is the major product which contribute maximum financial percentage of 100% for some interviewed establishments. However this has been emphasized that the main reason for operating the business of convention is that it attracts high spending customer (Major, et al 1993) in Webber and Chon (2003). Food and beverage products contributed equal financial percentage share like conference and meetings and this is evident in the above table, which shows 60%of maximum contribution of food and beverage.There are 4 establishments in which accommodation contribute a maximum of 100% revenue it is a single product they offer and there also 4 establishments which only provide accommodation and food and beverage only (figure 3).
The research study depicts that 8 of establishments do not have meetings and conference facilities in their businesses. Conference and meetings contribute only between 10% and 60% of the total revenue income in the business as compared to other activities. There are 2 hotels and 2 lodges which their financial contribution percentage of convention tourism in their establishments is 15% and 30 % respectively (table 6). According to figure 7 only one establishment has the greatest financial percentage share of 60% made from conferences and meetings within their business.
Carrying capacity of conference and meeting rooms
The carrying capacity of the conference and meeting rooms of hotels and lodges in the business of convention tourism in Maun was compared with that size of Gaborone International Conference Centre which is an international convention centre solely in the business of convention tourism. Most of establishments (5) indicated that their conference rooms host 50-150 attendees and they consider themselves to be small as compared to GICC (table 5). Only 2 establishments recognized themselves as a medium scale convention tourism scale as compared to GICC and they accommodate about 150-300 attendees and only 7 establishments do not offer convention tourism.Only 43.8% of all establishments do not offer conferences and meeting facilities and 6.2% of hotels and lodges have conference rooms which can host 300-450 attendees.According to the study many establishments have their market share being government organizations contribute 80-100% of their clients and other 3 establishment have their market share amounting to 40-60% of their customers. Hotels and lodges not indulge in the business of convention tourism amount to 43% and 12.5% of hotels and lodges have their market share from government organizations amounting to 60-80%.
Attitudes towards the business of convention tourism
Most of establishments (55.6%) strongly agree that there is a need of a convention centre like GICC in Maun and they are willing to learn and invest in the business of convention tourism in the future. The research study also indicates that 50% of establishments are undecided whether there is a need of convention centre in Maun and they are not willing to learn more about convention tourism but they are interested in the future investments in conference and meeting business . The findings of the research find that 50% of respondents strongly agree that there is a need of a convention centre however they are not willing or interested in convention tourism.Findings reveal that only 1 establishment with limited knowledge about convention tourism standards agrees that they are no specifications or standards requirements for this type business in their establishments. However another 1 establishment with average knowledge strongly disagree that there is unknown standard for convention tourism. Most of establishments (4) agree that they are unknown standards for convention tourism and a total of 8 businesses agree with the above statement with different levels of knowledge.Most of establishments strongly agree that the current conference and meeting facilities do not meet convention tourism scale with a percentage of 31.25%. Other business (25%) strongly disagree that conferences and meeting facilities in Maun do not meet convention tourism scale. There is an equivalent percentage of agreed and disagree business about the above statement which is 12.5 %..
The paper indicates that 43.8% of establishments have average knowledge about the business of convention tourism and only small percentage of respondents are not well informed about convention tourism(6.2%).
DISSCUSIONS AND RESULTS ANALYSIS
This study objective is to identify the number the number of hotels and lodges in Maun Region which are in the business of convention tourism furthermore the research study basically interviewed all hotels and lodges classified and graded by Botswana Tourism Board (2009).There are 16 establishments classified as hotels and lodges by Botswana Tourism Board however there are 25% and 75% of establishments are hotels and lodges respectively and there is an indication that there are more lodges than hotels in Maun (figure 2). Majority of establishments classified as hotels and lodges by Botswana Tourism Board are not grade as there are 10 ungraded facilities in which there are 9 lodges and 1 hotel, however only 3 hotels and 3 lodges are graded (table 2).The research study find out that 3 hotels and 6 lodges are in the business of convention tourism and 1 hotel and 6 lodges do not offer conference and meeting facilities (table 3).Majority of ungraded facilities are not offering conference and meeting facilities There is an indication that there is a need of a Convention Association Board which its main role is to promote the conference and meeting industry and maximize the number of national and international conferences and incentive trips that can be attracted Rogers (2003).Some research has shown that the business of convention tourism is the central field of tourism in other countries like Denmark where meetings, conferences and exhibitions are the central activity of Danish Tourism Board which persuade companies and organisation for Denmark to be the next venue Rogers(2003).The specific objective of the research study is find out the financial percentage contribution of convention tourism and this objective was achievable as conference and meetings contributes between 5%-60% of total revenue income in the business and accommodation has the greatest percentage share of income for most establishments .
The percentage difference is fuelled by the fact that tourism in Maun is nature based hence accommodation became the major product preferably offered. All establishments offering conference and meeting facilities are realising an average revenue income of 26.6% as indicated by figure 4. The research study indicates that majority of businesses in the business of convention tourism have equal financial contribution like food and beverage within their establishments however studies have found that while convention centres typically lose money on operations, they provide net economic gains for large communities Nelson (2004). Research findings have noticed that conference and meeting sector of tourism have been undermined when calculating the its economic impact as an industry Rogers (2004).Convention tourism has gone beyond the economic issues and it is noted that the industry has grown worldwide to become a significant economic, political and social phenomenon Nelson(2004).
The research study specifically asses the carrying capacity of conference and meeting rooms and the seating capacity was compared with that of Gaborone International Conference Centre (GICC) .Convention tourism is the business of a scale similar to that of Gaborone International Conference Centre (GICC) in Gaborone, Botswana. In its international context, convention tourism is a tourism business activity with extensive and flexible conference, meeting and exhibition spaces that market to associations, corporations and other groups bringing people together (Ninemeir and Perdue, 2008). GICC is a state of art, multi-faceted convention facility which can host up to 1800 attendees in a cinema –style and suited to the needs of both international and local meetings, conferences (www.venuesearch.co.za). The research study has compared the carrying capacity of conference and meeting rooms of GICC and of all interviewed establishments in the convention tourism business and majority of hotels and lodges (32%) have a carrying capacity of 50-150 attendees and they consider themselves small when compared to GICC in terms of the carrying capacity.
The research study has find that most of establishments have considered themselves small as compared to GICC because their market base is the government organisations as illustrated in table 9 and figure 12 respectively. Botswana Tourism Board and Department of tourism should come with tourism regulations and grading criteria, license requirements and classification of conventions centres and conference and meeting facilities The International Hotel and Restaurant Association (IHRA) published a report on the global hospitality in 2000 and noted that focus on adding value is re-shaping the marketing skills and that have so long prevailed in the global hospitality industry Rogers (2003).
According to study the final specific objective is to assess the attitudes of hotel and lodge management furthermore convention tourism is young and dynamic industry which has demand and many destinations around the world are investing heavily in the infrastructure development (Webber and Chon 2002).The research has find that many establishments (56.6%) strongly agree that there is a need of convention centre in Maun as indicated in table 15, that 68% of hotels and lodges are interested in investing in the business of convention tourism. The findings of the research study shows that most of establishment are willing to engage in the business of convention tourism and this evident in figure 9 as most of enterprises are not aware with the standard requirements (specifications) for operating this kind of business. Education and more research studies about convention industry are needed as most of establishments (43.8%) have average knowledge about this kind of business (figure 8).Due to lack of adequate information about convention most of hotels and lodges feel that the current business of conference and meeting facilities do not meet the convention tourism scale and it illustrated by the findings.
CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION
The research study is basically introspecting and assessing the status of convention tourism within Maun hotels and lodges. The main objective of the study is to investigate of the state of convention tourism as a tourism diversification strategy in Maun .The objective was achievable and tested by using all responses from the questionnaires. The findings of my study indicate that there is a need of documentation on convention tourism in Botswana and Botswana Tourism Board should have an association body which will be responsible for inventorying and monitoring hotels and lodges offering conference and meeting facilities as well as promoting specifically the business of convention tourism.
Most establishments ungraded are lodges ,and the Department of Tourism should extend their mandate to subsidize and help upgraded this facilities to be able to meet national and international conventions demand and education on the business of convention tourism is needed so that more profit turnover would be realized from this product diversification within the establishment. There is need of convention centre in Maun since current conference and meeting facilities offered in hotels and lodges in Maun do not fully cater for the market. The convention product will be successfully influenced by the expansion of the airport and wildlife scenery in the Okavango Delta hence international market will be easily accessed.
Most of hotel and lodge administrators are not well equipped with the knowledge of convention tourism and Botswana Tourism Board and Department of Tourism should come up with education strategies together with business funding organization like LEA and CEDA other financial institutions and educate hoteliers and lodge owners about product diversification and the business of convention tourism since more business managers are interested in this kind of new and dynamic business.
Concluding Remarks
The study has shown that the hotel and lodge management has a great passion of investing in the business of convention tourism and however there are limited by the knowledge and marketing of the product. More research should be undertaken in the field of hospitality since tourism diversification remains a major challenge in Botswana tourism WTTC (2007). More research studies should conducted locally like impacts of convention tourism, measuring perceptions in convention centers (trade shows) or convention in hotels and lodges.
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