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.