  There are high aspirations to foster growth in Namibia's Zambezi region via
the development of tourism. The Zambezi region is a core element of the
Kavango-Zambezi Transfrontier Conservation Area (KAZA), a mosaic of areas with
varying degrees of protection, which is designed to combine nature conservation
and rural development. These conservation areas serve as a resource base for
wildlife tourism, and growth corridor policy aims to integrate the region into
tourism global production networks (GPNs) by means of infrastructure
development. Despite the increasing popularity of growth corridors, little is
known about the effectiveness of this development strategy at local level. The
mixed-methods approach reveals that the improvement of infrastructure has led
to increased tourism in the region. However, the establishment of a territorial
conservation imaginary that results in the designation of conservation areas is
a necessary precondition for such a development. Despite the far-reaching
territorial claims associated with tourism, the benefits for rural residents
are limited.
