De Beers Endorses Botswana’s Top Travel Rating

The country was this year’s official partner at the Internationale Tourismus-Borse (ITB) in Berlin, and Botswana’s President Seretse Khama Ian Khama was among leading figures to attend.

Overall, from 8 to 12 March, more than 100,000 trade visitors came to the ITB, which featured 10,000 exhibiting companies from 184 countries and regions on almost 1,100 stands in an area of 160,000 square metres.

As well as sponsoring the Botswana Pavilion, the premium pavilion at the show, De Beers played a significant role in its design and execution.

The company teamed up with the Botswana Tourism Organisation, the Ministry of Youth Empowerment, Sport and Culture, and the Botswana Investment and Trade Centre to support the country’s efforts to demonstrate its strength as an attraction for tourists.

In doing so, De Beers was able to highlight its environmentally conscious approach and its commitment to helping the country develop a positive legacy that will last long after the last diamond is mined.

De Beers champions conservation and biodiversity stewardship beyond its operations through a range of initiatives such as supporting conservation projects and helping to protect rhino.

Pat Dambe, De Beers’ Vice-President, Corporate Affairs and Government Relations in Botswana, said: “De Beers cares passionately about the plight of the rhino, and is proud to provide a safe haven for both white and black rhinos on our properties, and to join with the Botswana Government in promoting rhino conservation globally.

“Tourism and conservation are a major pillar of De Beers’ efforts to support the sustainable diversification of Botswana’s economy. So working with the Government at the ITB in Berlin was all part our partnership with the country.”

ITB’s choice of Botswana as partner country – said to be the first sub-Saharan African country to be chosen – was the result of its work on rhino protection and its zero tolerance approach to poaching, and its overall best practice on tourism, conservation, culture and heritage.

The New York Times describes the country as the fifth best place to visit in 2017, and the tourism guide Lonely Planet named Botswana as the top country in the world for travellers in 2016.

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About De Beers
De Beers is a member of the Anglo American plc group. Established in 1888, De Beers is the world’s leading diamond company with expertise in the exploration, mining and marketing of diamonds. Together with its joint venture partners, De Beers employs more than 20,000 people across the diamond pipeline and is the world’s largest diamond producer by value, with mining operations in Botswana, Canada, Namibia and South Africa. As part of the company’s operating philosophy, the people of De Beers are committed to ‘Building Forever’ by making a lasting contribution to the communities in which they live and work, and transforming natural resources into shared national wealth. For further information about De Beers, visit www.debeersgroup.com.

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