Tanzanian National Park looks to Black Rhino for Promoting Tourism

DAR ES SALAAM - Tanzanian authorities said on Friday they have planned to spend some 651,000 U.S. dollars in launching a black rhino tourism that will enable visitors to watch the endangered wild animals at close range.

The tourism promotional stint using the black rhino will be the first of its kind to be done in Tanzania, said Abel Mtui, the assistant conservation officer in the Mkomazi National Park, northeastern of the east African nation.

Currently black rhinos are being used in South Africa for tourism promotional venture.

Mtui said the Mkomazi National Park was in final stages of erecting an electric fence with a 1,000-square km-area where the black rhino will be kept, adding that tourists will be able to watch rhinos at close range beginning July this year.

He said increased poaching of black rhinos in the 1980s forced Tanzania to transfer some of its black rhinos to South Africa and the Czech Republic for their safety.

"Most of the rhinos were returned to Tanzania after concerted efforts to fight poaching paid dividends," said the official.

"After we had realized that most of the tourists wanted to see rhinos at close range we came up with this arrangement," said Mtui.

The 3,500-square-km Mkomazi National Park is located in northeastern Tanzania on the Kenyan border, in Kilimanjaro and Tanga regions. It was established as a game reserve in 1951 and was upgraded to a national park in 2006.

Tanzania Identifies, Digitizes 274 new Historical Sites to spur Tourism

ARUSHA - Tanzania, has identified and digitized 274 new historical sites in the east African nation in a bid to boost the national coffers through tourism industry due to their national and international recognition, a senior official said on Monday.

Harrison Mwakyembe, Tanzanian Minister for Information, Culture, Arts, and Sports, said that the sites include pre-colonial chiefdoms and independence resistance heroes as well as graves of post-colonial chiefs, freedom fighters and colonizers from Germany and later the United Kingdom.

Others include the historic Majimaji war fighters and the source of water they used for ritual cleansing during the war.

"All these have been stored using the information and communication technology for future research activities and use by the coming generations," he said in an interview.

He added this is part of the Tanzanian government's move to achieve the 2-million-tourist target by 2020.

He added that identification and registration of statistics from the regional and district culture and heritage officers in the mainland was done to improve the regulations at the respective levels.

The minister also noted that Tanzania is the coordinator of heritage and liberation programme in Africa aimed at identifying, collecting and documenting the history of the continental liberation movements.

The minister revealed that Tanzania will in September 2019 host the regional East African Community Arts and Culture Festival, which aims to provide a platform to showcase culture as a primary catalyst to regional integration and sustainable development.

Tanzania: Chinese Firm to Invest in Tz Tourism Sector

CHINA National Travel Service Group Corporation (CTS) is planning to invest in Tanzania's tourism sector by constructing hotels on the Mainland and Zanzibar.

According to Tanzania's Ambassador to China, Mr Mbelwa Kairuki, the corporation will also help promote Tanzania's tourism industry through its websites and online travel platforms.

CTS Deputy Managing Director Dr Lu Youqing expressed the commitment to invest in the country during discussions he held with Ambassador Kairuki in Hong Kong over the weekend.

Dr Lu, who served as Chinese Ambassador to Tanzania for several years, said CTS had wide experience in the tourism industry, adding that it was in their best interests to spread the company's tentacles to Tanzania for the sectoral growth.

With over 200 tourist hotels, CTS, through its subsidiaries, engages in tourism culture, tourism, real estate, tourism finance, and related businesses in Hong Kong and internationally.

Among other activities, CTS operates 2,500 travel agencies and an online travel platform, owns and manages a network of hotels, operates a man-made theme park, leisure resorts, cross-border land and water passenger transport ships, a performing arts venue, and scenic cableway projects.

Others are duty-free shops in airports, onboard aircraft, borders, passenger terminals, train stations, foreign shipping supplies, diplomats, cruise ships, and cities.

At the end of last December, Tanzania launched a marketing campaign in China to attract business travellers and tourists from the Asian giant.

Senior officials of the Tanzania Tourist Board (TTB), Ministry of Natural Resources and Tourism, the national airline and key tourism institutions visited China in December to market the country's attractions.

The officials visited Shanghai, Guangzhou, Hong Kong, Chengdu and Beijing. Records show in 2017, Tanzania received 30,000 Chinese tourists and in 2019 the country expects 10,000 more.

A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) already exists between TTB and Touchroad International Holdings Group of China to market Tanzania's tourist attractions in key Chinese cities.

China has cited eight African countries as suitable tourist destinations for the Chinese, among them Tanzania. Others are Kenya, Seychelles, Zimbabwe, Tunisia, Ethiopia, Mauritius and Zambia.