Welcome to Tanzania and Witness Annular Solar Eclipse, September 1, 2016

 

Tanzania Tourist Board wishes to welcome everyone from all over the world to come to Tanzania and witness the solar eclipse which according to astronomy experts Tanzania in particular Rujewa Area in Mbeya region located in Southern Highlands of Tanzania will be the best site for viewing this fascinating event where the sun’s disk will change to a ring. This major astronomical event will occur on September 1 this year from 10:17am to 1:56pm, centered over Tanzania and is expected to attract eclipse chasers from around the world and across the country.

People in Tanzania will witness first-hand the sun go evening-dim at midday as more than 90% of the sun will be covered by the moon in a partial solar eclipse leaving the sun as a thin crescent. The annual eclipse will be seen as a thin bright ring on that day for hundreds of thousands of people living within a 100 kilometre band crossing Southern Tanzania from Congo into Katavi, Mbeya, Ruvuma, to Masasi and out to Mozambique. Experts say that the next eclipse in Tanzania is expected to occur after 15 years. So this is a great opportunity that one shouldn’t miss.

HOW TO REACH THERE:
Tourists who want to journey out to witness solar eclipse from anywhere will have to get to Mbeya or Njombe region. Easy and quick transport can be through air, Bus and Train. Both Mbeya and Njombe (Wanging’ombe area) solar eclipse will be visible to all visitors as it is within the radius of 100kms.

ACCOMODATION:
Accommodation areas are available for visitors of different categories in Njombe and Mbeya regions. To allow you also enjoy other attractions within the areas, it is advised that visitors arrive at least a day or two before or stay for a day or two after the event. While in Mbeya you may have opportunity to visit Kiwira Natural Bridge, Mbeya peak, and Mbozi Meteorite just about 65 kms in Songwe region.

IMPORTANT TO REMEMBER:
During the eclipse you are required to have eye protection, for safe view. Do not attempt to observe the partial or annual eclipse with naked eye; as this may permanently damage your eyes or result in blindness. The Eclipse is expected to begin at 10:01am to 01:45pm.

Nairobi: Arab Investors Target Kenya/Uganda/Tanzania Tourism Sector

Travel trade investors from Middle East are expected to jet into the country this weekend to hunt for potential tourists and investors in tourism as they look to shore up arrivals to Arab market.

A team of 14 Dubai-based firms and Dubai’s Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing have begun a multi-destination road show across three East African cities, Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania to market Gulf States as shopping, cultural and entertainment destination.

The team comprising airline service providers, flydubai, Emirates Airline and Kenya Airways and hotel groups such as Address Hotels, Rove Hotels, Time Hotels and Crowne Plaza, plus resorts featured by Arabian Falcon Holidays are currently in Uganda and will be in Kenya Saturday 27th August.

Key destination services companies are Alpha Tours, Rayna Tourism, Red Apple Middle East Tourism, North Tours and Connect World Travel & Tourism.

“This road show provides us with the opportunity to directly interact with the operators here, to showcase what Dubai has to offer them,” said Dubai Tourism CEO,  Issam Kazim.    Over 64,000 Kenyans visited Dubai last year, a 19.9 per cent increase over the previous year.

Overall, Dubai saw a 13.7 per cent increase in travelers from these three East African countries last year.

Flydubai senior Vice president Commercial operations, Sudhir Sreedharan said the team is committed to opening up underserved markets and providing reliable, direct air links to destinations that previously had no very few connections to Dubai.

“East Africa is a very important market that has shown significant growth over the past few years,” said Sreedharan.

Kenyan Tourism Board (KTB) has said it is prioritising new markets in Asia and the Middle East to diversify away from its traditional markets in Europe and North America that have been recording lower arrival numbers.

Tanzania: Tourism Hopes High On Rising Travel Bookings

 

Tanzania has emerged first in the list of top ten countries that have recorded a largest percentage of growth in tourist bookings worldwide this year.

According to an American luxury travel network Virtuoso, recognized as an influential trend forecaster in the industry announced recently that, Tanzania continues to register a remarkable performance in tourism sector internationally.

The travel network Virtuoso scores 98 per cent for Tanzania followed by Portugal and Ireland which scored 88 per cent and 58 per cent respectively. Other countries with their percentage in brackets are: Brazil (53 per cent), Mexico (48 per cent), Russia (44 per cent), Netherlands (38 per cent), Jamaica (28 per cent), Sweden (23 per cent) and Poland (18 per cent).

"Tanzania is experiencing a huge increase in bookings, as travellers seek out its incredible scenery and diversity of wildlife" says Virtuoso in the statement. It says further that few surprises emerged when Virtuoso compared this year's performance summer hot spots to last year's "must see" destinations.

The Tanzania Tourist Board (TTB), Acting Director of Marketing Mr Philip Chitaunga said, "this is a great achievement to cherish and is a clear manifestation of the great effort TTB in collaboration with other public institutions and private sector in tourism industry exert in promoting destination Tanzania globally.

"We are proud of this performance as it clearly shows the commitment that TTB and other stakeholders attach to promoting destination Tanzania and the growth of this lucrative industry" he said. Virtuoso is the leading international travel agency network specializing in luxury and experiential travel.

This by-invitation-only organization comprises of over 380 agency members with more than 11,400 elite travel advisors in over 30 countries throughout North America, Latin America, the Caribbean, Europe, Asia-Pacific, Africa and Middle East. It is a global network of travel advisors, suppliers and others connected to the travel and leisure industry.

Advisors have unprecedented knowledge of certain areas of the world (often from personal experience), including the best places to stay and the most life-defining experiences to pursue.

Tanzania: Exim Bank Launches Master, Visa Cards to Ease Tourism Transactions

Tourists visiting national parks do not need to walk with cash for making payment as now they could do so electronically.

This comes following launching of Exim Bank's Master and VISA cards for the national parks yesterday in Dar es Salaam. At the launching event, Exim Bank Tanzania Operations Manager, Mr Manfredy Kayala, said the electronic service payment would be available at all national parks.

Mr Kayala noted that the bank had been tendered by the Tanzania National Parks Authority (TANAPA) to provide the electronic payment services at its all 17 national parks. He said such service was available at only four national parks since 2007, but recently the TANAPA added 13 national parks that the electronic payment system would be installed. "This system would assure the tourists of safety for their money since walking with cash could expose them to theft," he said.

The move to launch the new service at the national parks was part of the bank's celebration to mark its 19th birthday. The celebration also saw an introduction of other services: the whistle blower/anti-fraud campaign and Elimika eLearning Management System.

The whistle blower campaign intends to create a fraud free environment in the banking industry while Elimika eLearning Management System would enhance staff to sharpen their skills through learning online.

Elaborating on the whistle blower campaign, Head of Risk and Compliance, Mr David Lusala, said the campaign came after the bank learnt the best practices from the developed countries. He said through this campaign they would encourage their customers to report any unethical conducts done by the bank's staff so that the management could take immediate action.

"This would help us improve efficiency in providing services to the customer and make the customer feel that they are in control of the services they have been offered," he said. In line with the boosting the bank's efficiency, introduction of the elearning platform by the Exim Academy was also the ideal decision, the Bank's Head of Human Resources Department, Mr Fredrick Kanga, said.

"We are optimistic that the elearning system would improve creativity in banking field among our staff," he said.

Speaking over expansion of the bank, the Chief of Finance, Mr Selemani Ponda, said the bank spent at least Sh45billion as capital to open up its branches in Uganda, Comoro and Djibouti. The bank also plans to launch other branches in two African countries in the next five years.

Tanzania Targets More Chinese Tourists

Dar es Salaam — Tanzania Tourist Board (TTB) is targeting China in its efforts to attract more visitors.

The board recently organized a media trip of 20 Chinese journalists to Mikumi National Park saying the Asian country was among the emerging potential markets.

The journalists were expected to promote the local attractions in the Asian continent and the world at large through their publications.

The visit came after the Minister for Natural Resources and Tourism, Prof Jumanne Maghembe, directed the new TTB board of directors to look into other markets and promote attraction to increase the number of tourists from the current one million per year to three million targeted by 2018.

The rate of tourists from across China country has been increasing in the past years from 13,760 tourists in 2012 to 21,246 tourists in 2014, according to TTB managing director Ms Devota Mdachi.

"Basically, the two-day visit to Mikumi National Park is aimed at advertising our tourism sites to China which is a very huge potential market that can improve the number of visitors," she said

"China is a big nation with large population and they often like to make visits in big groups. We will continue promoting the sector to the world but China is among our priority countries this time," she added.

Ms Mdachi said the board also has been participating in tourism fairs taking place every year in Beijing as part of search for new markets.

For his part TTB principal public relations officer Geofrey Tengeneza added that during the tour the journalists promised to be good ambassador and well promote the sector in their country.

"I was with them in Mikumi and they were happy to see our tourism sites especially when they saw the famous big five animals," he said.

Tanzania: Govt to Work With Researchers, Academics to Boost Tourism

The government will continue working with researchers and academicians in order to identify opportunities and new products in tourism to boost the country's economy.

Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Natural Resources and Tourism, Major Gen Gaudence Milanzi said this during the closing of the International Conference on Tourism and Hospitality organized by the Open University of Tanzania (OUT) in Dar es Salaam.

He said the conference has been fruitful because researchers, academicians and tourism stakeholders from inside and outside the country discussed the challenges facing the sector. "This conference should be the beginning of others in the near future so as to have more productive ideas on how we can improve the tourism and hospitality industry," said Major Gen Milanzi.

He said currently the government has been working to strengthen security in the country as one amongst the major factors that will attract more tourists. He, however, urged Tanzanians to be positive on the implementation of the Value Added Tax (VAT) in tourism and hospitality industry and that if well implemented will help to increase the government revenue.

Presenting the resolutions of the conference, a lecturer from the Open University of Tanzania, Dr Shogo Mlozi, said the government should use experts in the sector through researches which might provide solutions to the sustainability of the sector.

"The government should think of investing in development research tourism for to boost the country's economy," said Dr Mlozi. OUT Vice-Chancellor Prof Elifas Bisanda pointed out that tourism faces challenges whereby Tanzanians are not well informed on how to handle tourists in terms of provision of good services, situation which has negative impact on the sector.

"For example, a tourist or a foreigner cannot be happy when told that the food is not ready, and even after waiting for some hours," he explained. He advocated for public education on handling tourists to enable them become good ambassadors to their home countries.

Tanzania Tourist Board (TTB) Cautioned over ‘bad’ Contracts after Sunderland Rip-Off

THE Minister for Natural Resources and Tourism, Professor Jumanne Maghembe, has instructed the Tanzania Tourist Board (TTB) to promote the country’s attractions and avoid entering into controversial contracts.

Prof Maghembe issued the directive during his keynote address at the inauguration of the TTB Board of Directors in Dar es Salaam yesterday.

“TTB has to be extra careful when signing contracts to avoid future negative consequences that could lead it into bad debts and bankruptcy,” said Prof Maghembe.

He named such debts as the Sunderland Football Club and the English Premier League, noting that the issue went further and was ruled in court requiring TTB to pay debts amounting to 3.7bn/-. Prof Maghembe said the debts are a result of dubious contracts that did not go through the right process, which in the end cause problems to the country.

“This new board has a role to play in making sure that TTB does not end up making the same mistakes like what has occurred,” said Prof Maghembe. He pointed out that a plan had been set out to clear the debts because that alone had been the only solution to end the matter.

The tourism sector is contributing 17 per cent of the country’s GDP and in the near future it’s projected to rise by 20 per cent.

“Your role is to ensure Tanzania gets into the bigger picture by promoting the country and the tourism sector abroad,” he directed, adding that the problem is that most tourists do not visit the country’s scattered tourist parks due to high airfare compared to countries like Kenya. “The issue has been used as a vantage point for neighbouring countries so that tourists do not come to Tanzania.

There is, therefore, need for such matters to be classified as hidden barriers in the East African Community (EAC),” stressed the minister. As the country is on the move to acquire its own airplanes, TTB should advocate for routes that would act in favour of boosting the tourism sector in the country.

TTB has a role to kick start the tourism business by holding talks with hotel owners and airlines to reduce prices during the low season to attract business. The Chairman of TTB, Judge (retired) Thomas Mihayo, pointed out that the parastatal was in a critical financial situation.

“When the board got in three months ago, TTB’s accounts had held only 6,000 US dollars and 11m/- and on the other hand a debt of over 300m/- that includes outstanding allowances and salaries,” said Judge Mihayo.

Among other challenges that TTB faces is relying on tourism levy as the only source of income and the Board of Directors relying on funds from the Ministry of Natural Resources and Tourism to operate.

Prof Maghembe called for the improvement of working conditions, including salaries and allowances commensurate with the nature of their work as well as provision of adequate funds to enable the board of directors to carry out its operations.

TTB Managing Director, Ms Devotha Mdachi, noted that the board has already paid 300,000 pounds to the English football club. The debt stood at 500,000 pounds.