Furthermore, selling hunting licences to wealthy Westerners is an extremely lucrative business, he says.
Hunting concessions currently exist in the northern Okavango Delta and the parks of the Kalahari region, famous for its upmarket safari lodges.
According to the environment ministry’s official statement, the government will continue to issue special game licences “for traditional hunting by some local communities within designated wildlife management areas”.
Due to its seasonal nature, hunting has only contributed a minimal amount to the tourism sector, which ranks second to the diamond industry in terms of its revenue earnings, the ministry said.
Designated hunting zones will be turned into “photographic areas”.
The announcement has been welcomed by the International Fund for Animal Welfare.
“The ideal scenario would be that it has a similar effect to the ban on whaling 20 years ago,” the organisation’s spokesman, Adrian Hiel, told the BBC.
“Whale watching is now proven to be more sustainable and profitable than hunting and killing the animals.”
Earlier this year, Spain’s King Juan Carlos faced international criticism for going on a hunting trip in Botswana.