Tanzania: Marketing Drive Boosts Tourism

TANZANIA enjoyed another record year for tourism in 2014 as the industry showed strong growth to boost foreign exchange earnings and create jobs and trade opportunities.

Tourism earned the country 1.95 billion US dollars in 2014, up from 1.88 billion US dollars a year earlier to continue as the country's top foreign exchange earner, according to the Bank of Tanzania latest monthly economic report.

Drawn by the country's pristine beaches, safari parks and snow-capped Mount Kilimanjaro, 1.14 million tourists visited in 2014, up from 1.095 million the previous year.

The visitors mostly come from Britain, Germany, the United States and Italy, the traditional source of tourist market. The Minister for Natural Resources and Tourism, Lazaro Nyalandu told the National Assembly last week that higher tourist arrivals in Tanzania were partly driven by intense government advertising campaign.

"Tourism currently accounts for 25 percent of Tanzania's total foreign exchange earnings," Tourism Minister Lazaro Nyalandu told parliament.

The marketing campaign in the traditional market source of Europe and America as well as in the far East looks to be paying off as tourism industry is growing by leaps and bounds to cushion the effects of gold price plunge on the economy.

Tanzania is the fourth largest gold producer in Africa after South Africa, Ghana and Mali and gold exports are a key source of foreign exchange.

Export earnings have been declining due to low output and decline in global price. According to Tanzania Minerals Audit Agency (TMAA), the total value of mineral exports by the seven major gold mines decreased by 6.7 percent from 1.78 billion US dollars in 2013 to 1.66 billion US dollars last year.

With the export earnings from gold declining, Tanzania's tourism industry is receiving a much needed boost from some of its major traditional sources of market.

A Netherlands based tourists' website, www. safaribookings. com recently rated Tanzania as the the best destination for tourists in Africa followed in second and third places by Botswana and Kenya respectively.

The website collected reviews and star ratings online where Tanzania garnered 188 reviews with 4.8 out of a fivestar rating. Botswana got 136 reviews with a 4.7 out of a five-star rating; Kenya managed 148 reviews with 4.6 out of a five-star rating; Zambia came in fourth with 62 reviews and a 4.6 rating; South Africa was fifth with 191 reviews and a 4.5 rating.

In his statement, Mr Nyalandu, said the ratings announced by CNN recently are a result of hard work in publicising the country's tourist attraction sites around the globe.

The country also made top of the list in best tourist destinations a on the biennial World Economic Forum Travel's global Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Index (TTCI) 2015 released in Geneva, Switzerland last month.

Despite its strong growth, the tourism industry is seen to have potential for more growth and capable for creating more jobs with if it is better managed, according to World Bank analysts.

In their sixth's economic update of the country issued in January this year, the World Bank analysts say although tourism has grown rapidly in the last decade attracting a growing number of tourists each year, a new tourism strategy would provide even greater benefits for a larger number of Tanzanians.

They advised the government to implemement a fair, business-friendly taxation system and develop a more transparent redistribution mechanisms.

According to them the industry is currently constrained by imposition of multiple taxes and levies that discourage investors, particularly small investors and increases opportunities for rent seeking and corruption.

Tanzania's tourism industry is not creating enough highvalue, productive jobs for local workers, with an average worker making only one-third of what his or her counterpart makes in Kenya, they also said adding many resorts rely on imported materials, equipment and food.

The analysts also said currently, tourism caters to the high-value tourist who can pay several thousand dollars to see animals while at exclusive resorts in two specific locations: Northern circuits around Arusha and Zanzibar.

They called for diversification of the industry to include both expanding geographic options and other tourist attractions that meet the expectations of a broader range of tourists, such as beach activities, cultural as well as business tourism.