The Permanent Secretary (PS) in the Ministry of Natural Resources and Tourism, Dr Adelhem Meru, told 'Daily News' in a telephone interview that the election fever did not adversely affect the lucrative industry.
Other factors that have threatened the country's top foreign exchange earner include the Ebola outbreak in West Africa and Al Shabab attacks in neighbouring Kenya over the past year.
Tourism has overtaken gold and other traditional exports as the country's leading foreign exchange earner over the past years and prospects are higher for the hospitality industry, which as well provides employment to thousands of local people."There was a slight drop of back-packers visiting the country due to the fear associated with the recently held elections but the state of affairs is picking up, the target of receiving 1.5 million tourists will be realised," Dr Meru explained.
Last year, the country received 1.2 million tourists and is set to host between 1.8 and 2 million backpackers next year.
There were fears that the elections will hold back arrivals of tourists during the peak tourism season spanning between May and September every year, but Dr Meru stressed that the situation has been stable.
"A number of foreign countries issued travel advisories to their people not to visit Tanzania during the election period but this had little impact on the tourism sector," the PS explained to the ‘Daily News’.
He went on to note that the government was working round the clock to encourage domestic tourism to shun over dependence on foreign tourists.
"The country has the capacity to generate significant revenues from local tourists and this will enable us to reduce the reliance on foreign back-packers who have for long been the major source of revenues," Dr Meru stated.
Tanzania has just held presidential, parliamentary and civic polls which saw Dr John Magufuli being elected as the president of the Fifth Phase government, taking over from Mr Jakaya Kikwete.
In another development, a number of tourists visiting Zanzibar is stable because it is not yet the peak season; the ‘Daily News’ was informed here.
Zanzibar Association of Tourism Investors (ZATI) Chairman, Mr Omar Saidi Shaaban, said that so far there have been no complaints from members regarding insecurity threats and election-time anxiety.
“There has been no report on cancellation of bookings because of the security fears. It is only three weeks since elections ended that gave rise to the political stalemate here,” he reported, noting that the government and the police have been doing a good job to ensure security, Even the ordinary people in Zanzibar are conscious about security because they are dependent on it.
The ZATI chairman said that the only big challenge now for the people and hotels’ managements is the increase in food prices.
“The price of food remained high throughout election time. But we hope security is maintained and inflation falls after the formation of the new government on the Mainland and Zanzibar,” Mr Omar added.
According to available data by the Zanzibar Ministry of Finance, tourism contributes 27 per cent to the GDP while more than 40,000 people, mainly youth, are directly employed in the industry.
The Executive Secretary of the Tanzania Association of Tour Operators (TATO), Mr Sirili Akko, said despite the travel advisory issued by some western countries that warn their citizens against travelling to the country during the campaigns and election, many foreign visitors continued to flock.
“It is also important to remember that the general election was held at the time when the high tourism season, which runs between June and September was already over,” pointed out Mr Akko, adding the fact that many travellers defied pre-election warnings, the polls and the usual low season ebb, goes to show how attractive Tanzania is getting as a destination.
Mr Akko was on view that from next year, the industry is likely to record even better progress as far as tourists’ flow is concerned.
“The country, despite featuring 16 National parks, an extensive beach and Zanzibar Islands, also banks heavily on its peaceful nature,” said Mr Akko.
Tanzania receives an average of 1.2 million visitors per annum, though nearly 90 per cent of this figure heads to the Northern Tourism Circuit comprising of Ngorongoro Crater, Mount Kilimanjaro, Lake Manyara, Tarangire and Serengeti National Parks, among others.
“But we are facing challenges, especially from neighbouring countries that have of late been improving their destinations and respective travel packages as well as lowering prices to attract more visitors from abroad,” said the TATO official while speaking exclusively to this newspaper in his office.
Ngorongoro, which is the country’s leading tourism destination, attracting nearly 600,000 tourists in a year, is also working to expand its portfolio from the current crater-based game drives, to include the mysterious shifting sand dunes as well as Laetoli and Olduvai Gorge archaeological sites and Mary Leakey Museum.
/Daily News.
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