North West Parks and Tourism Board (NWP&TB) was established as Government Supported Institution (GSI) pursuant to the North West Parks and Tourism Board Act No.3 of 1997. It is the product of the amalgamation and restructuring of various organizations from the former Bophuthatswana National Parks, Transvaal Provincial Conservation Authority, the Cape Provincial Conservation Authority, North West Tourism Council, Department of Education, including the Institute of Hotel & Tourism Management, as well as the Ga-Rankuwa Hotel School.
The primary purpose of the establishment is to facilitate sustainable responsible tourism development and conservation area management. The underlying thrust behind the creation of a single GSI combining tourism marketing & development on one hand, and protected areas management on the other, was refocusing of aspects of the conservation function in order to create synergies between tourism promotion and conservation, in the interest of job creation and economic development. Hospitality training is the 3rd core mandate added to NWP&TB.
The unitary Board of Directors comprises a majority of non-executive. The Chairperson is appointed by the MEC and confirmed by the Premier of the NW Province. The term of office of all directors is three (3) years. There are six advisory sub-committees in the Board, which were created to assist the main Board in discharging its responsibilities.
The NWPTB employee profile as at 31 March 2004 was as follows:
| TYPE OF EMPLOYMENT | MALE | FEMALE | TOTAL |
| Full-Time | 342 | 139 | 481 |
| Internships | 15 | 18 | 33 |
| Learnerships | 56 | 62 | 118 |
The Board manages assets which include an estate of 14 parks, 4 Tourism Information and Development Centres, 3 marketing satellite offices, 2 Hotel Schools and a Head Office.
Subsidiaries of the Board include:
The Board adopted a new strategy in 2004 which is called the "2014 Business Road Map" (BRM). It is aimed primarily at building on the impressive estate and in turn creating additional value and generating employment.
The key objectives of the Business Road Map are:
