TCT - Launches Partnership Strategy to Boost Country’s Tourism Sector

THE Tourism Confederation of Tanzania (TCT) in collaboration with stakeholders has launched a partnership strategy to boost the country’s tourism sector growth and improve the quality of services as part of efforts to market destination Tanzania.

This was revealed on over the weekend by TCT executive secretary, Richard Rugimbana when launching the partnership strategy at the TCT headquarters in Dar es Salaam.

The strategy is designed to uplift the tourism sector in Tanzania to make perform similarly with other countries around the globe. It will market the available tourism attractions to lure more foreign tourists.

“Tourists are coming in Tanzania because of the quality services that we offer, we have the best tourists’ products such as Serengeti national park, Mt. Kilimanjaro and Ngorongoro crater”, said Rugimbana insisting the improvement in services is due to training offered to stakeholders.

He commended the World Bank for supporting the government in improving the southern circuit tourism through the Resilient Natural Resource Management for Tourism and Growth Project (REGROW).

Through REGROW project, the southern circuit will be known worldwide as well as easy to reach because it involves improvement of infrastructures.

Minister for Natural Resources and Tourism, Dr. Hamis Kigwangalla added that the new strategy will strengthen the partnership between the private and public sector.

“We are working with tourism stakeholders to identify the opportunities in the sector so that they are utilized”, said Dr. Kigwangalla adding the government is also working on the challenges stakeholders face to ensure smooth operations.

The Minister asserted that Tanzania targets to receive 500,000 tourists in the next season, calling for concerted efforts to attain the target. He said the government has invested in cruise ship tourism which is the fastest growing segment in the tourism sector so as to increase the number of visitors.

“We have so far received 11 cruise ships from different countries. Our target is to receive over 30 cruise ships per year”, he noted.

“I would like to assure you that my ministry is vigilant of the positive initiatives like this. We are endowed with a number of tourists attractions hence the need to market them accordingly”, he said.

He said the tourism sector accounts for 17 percent of the country’s GDP which is equivalent to 25 percent of the total export earnings.

The enormous economic importance of tourism, especially as an engine of employment, is to date visibly valid as it supports an estimated number of 500,000 direct jobs, he said.

Currently, the statistics show that the number of tourists that toured in Tanzania in 2018 stood at 1.3 million and the Government is targeting to attract 2 million tourists by 2020.

Tanzania Makes Tourism Country’s Top Priority

Key players in Tanzania’s tourism and hospitality industry and the country’s National Assembly have agreed to work hand in hand in guaranteeing the industry with the due priority it needs for driving the national economy.

The Tanzania Association of Tour Operators (TATO) and Hotel Association of Tanzania (HAT) delegation recently engaged Parliament Speaker Job Ndugai in Dodoma in their latest attempt to lobby for fair treatment of the industry.

Thanks to the USAID PROTECT for building the capacity of TATO, an umbrella organization with over 300 members, it became an efficient advocacy agency for the tourism sector.

During their round-table discussion with the Speaker, the TATO and HAT team briefed Mr. Ndugai on a rough patch the multi-billion-dollar industry is passing through as a result of unfriendly and inconsistent policies.

“The industry needs the intervention of your august office now [more] than ever before,” the TATO Trustee and founder Chairman, Mr. Merwyn Nunes, told him.

A myriad of taxes and levies imposed on the industry were not only making the business environment unfriendly but also tagging Tanzania globally as a non-competitive tourism destination, Mr. Nunes explained.

Going by available records, a tour operator in Tanzania is subjected to 32 different taxes, including business registration, regulatory licenses fees, entry fees, income taxes, and annual duties for each tourist van.

Findings of a study on Tanzania’s tourism sector indicate that administrative burdens of completing the license tax and levy paperwork alone place a heavy cost on businesses in terms of time and money.

A tour operator, for instance, spends over 4 months to accomplish regulatory paperwork, let alone tax and license paperwork consuming a total of his 745 hours per year.

An average annual cost of personnel completing regulatory paperwork per local tour operator stands at $1,300 a year, the joint study by the Tanzania Confederation of Tourism (TCT) and BEST-Dialogue shows.

“We really need new ways and means, especially at policy-making levels, if the industry is to turn around the economy,” chipped in the TATO Vice-Chairman, Mr. Henry Kimambo.

The major concern of the HAT Chief Executive Officer, Ms. Nura-Lisa Karamagi, was over the Ministry of Livestock Development and Fisheries’ inspections embarrassing investors in hotels and campsites with unfair penalties for insignificant deficits.

Notwithstanding challenges facing the industry, tourism and hospitality earn Tanzania’s economy about $2.05 billion per annum, equivalent to 17 percent of the country’s GDP.

TATO CEO, Mr. Sirili Akko, said tourism is a sure way to turnaround the country’s economy because it is not consumptive.

“Tourists come just to see for their eyes and take photos and leave behind $2 billion annually. It is high time we give tourism its due attention for it to grow and spur other sectors of the economy,” Mr. Akko noted.

Speaker Ndugai expressed his gratitude to the TATO and HAT delegation for its initiative, as he pledged to support its bid of turning tourism into a national priority sector.

Mr. Ndugai called on TATO and HAT to sustain the partnership they forged with the House in a bid to resolve the investment climate hiccups and other challenges denying tourism national priority.

According to its national 5-year marketing blueprint, Tanzania anticipates hosting 2 million tourists by the end of next year, boosting its revenue from the current $2 billion to nearly $3.8 billion.

Tanzania Tour Operators want Reforms to Improve Business Landscape

Tanzania tour operators are upbeat at the news that the government would execute the reforms highlighted on the blueprint to improve the business environment.

Wilbard Chambulo, the Chairman of the Tanzania Association of Tour Operators (TATO) told media shortly after the meeting with the President Dr. John Magufuli at state House that tour operators want to see the reforms are put into practice.

“I just wanted to know from the President what should the business community do to support the Government since most of our pressing issues are clearly articulated on the blueprint” Mr. Chambulo explains.

He adds: “My attendance to his Excellency President, Dr. Maguful’s meeting is all about reminding him of expeditiously fast-tracking the implementation of key issues mentioned in the blueprint”.

The key for the Government to achieve its plan of attracting two million tourists in 2020, Mr. Chambulo says lying in relieving private sector from unnecessarily time-consuming compliance issues.

For instance, TATO boss points out on multiplicity of taxes and overlapping responsibilities of the regulatory bodies on the tourism industry as the biggest headache to his members, arguing the government to address them to spur industry growth.

Representing over 300 tour operators, TATO is a leading lobby agency for a tourism industry that earns the country’s economy about $2.43 billion per annum, equivalent to 17 percent of the country’s GDP.

Mr. Chambulo says multiple taxes compliance consumes a lot of time and money and, in fact, could encourage tax evasion.

The TATO chairman argues that the contentious issue is not only how to pay myriad taxes and make profits, but also the modality and time spent in complying with intricate taxes.

“Tour operators need streamlining of taxes to ease compliance because the cost of compliance is so high and as such it acts as an obstacle for voluntary compliance” Mr. Chambulo explains.

Tanzania to Create Special Authority to Promote Beach Tourism

The government of Tanzania is in the final stage of establishing a special authority charged with promoting beach tourism in the nation, a senior official told parliament on Wednesday.

Constantine Kanyasu, the Deputy Minister for Natural Resources and Tourism, said the authority will ensure that the country's beautiful beaches were put into proper use as a destination for tourists from across the world.

Kanyasu was answering a special-seat Member of Parliament Amina Mollel, who asked what the government was doing to diversify tourism instead of relying on traditional tourism, like wild animals.

Kanyasu also asked if the government was ready to develop Coco Beach in the commercial capital Dar es Salaam and other beaches in the country.

In November last year, Tanzanian Prime Minister Kassim Majaliwa announced that the government was establishing a beach management directorate aimed at promoting beach tourism in the country.

"We instructed the ministry responsible for tourism to ensure that we improve our lakes and sea beaches for the country's development and the ministry is working on the instructions," Majaliwa told the National Assembly.

Tourism is one of the largest foreign exchange earners of Tanzania, contributing an average of 2 billion U.S. dollars to the country annually, which is equivalent to 25 percent of all exchange earnings, according to the government data.

A report released in June 2017 rated Tanzania's tourism industry as one of the fastest growing sectors in the country with figures showing surgeon tourist arrival.

The report was jointly compiled by the Ministry of Natural Resources and Tourism, the Bank of Tanzania, the National Bureau of Statistics, the Immigration Department and the Zanzibar Commission for Tourism.

Serengeti Unchallenged in World Travel Awards Gala

The Serengeti National Park emerged tops at the awards ceremony that took place at the weekend in Mauritius, after beating other five nominees including Kenya’s Maasai Mara Game Reserve and South Africa’s Kruger National Park.

This is the second recognition in a row for Serengeti after it won the best African Safari Park last year in ratings organized by SafariBookings.com. The win followed an in-depth study that included more than 2,500 reviews from safari tourists and industry experts.

In this year’s World Travel Awards, Thanda Island in Mafia district was also named Africa’s Leading Luxury Island 2019. The exclusive luxury privately-run island off the Indian Ocean coast beat three other contenders in the category.

Zanzibar’s Diamonds La Gemma dell'Est hotel won two categories: Africa's Leading All-Inclusive Resort 2019 and Africa's Leading Beach Resort 2019.

In 2017, Tanzania was named Africa’s Best Safari country by SafariBookings.com after an in-depth analysis of reviews from safari tourists and acclaimed Africa experts. In its announcement of the win, Safaribookings.com said more than 2,500 reviews were used in the comprehensive research which included contributions from safari-goers all over the world and 22 reputable guidebook authors.

Tanzania which is the largest country in East Africa focuses on wildlife conservation and sustainable tourism, and with approximately 28 percent of the land put under wildlife protection, it boasts of 15 national parks and 31 game reserves.

Also, it is the home of the tallest mountain in Africa, the legendary Mt Kilimanjaro, the Serengeti National Park, named in October 2006 as the New 7th Wonder of the World by ‘Good Morning America’ radio pogramme, the world-acclaimed Ngorongoro Crater, often called the 8th Wonder of the World. There is also the Olduvai Gorge, seen as the cradle of mankind as well as the Selous Game Reserve, the world’s largest game reserve.

Tanzania also has the Ruaha National Park currently the second largest national park in Africa, the spice islands of Zanzibar and Pemba, seven UNESCO World Heritage Sites, historical sites in Zanzibar, beach tourism and cultural tourism.

The tourism sector directly employs hundreds of thousands of people and contributes to the country’s GDP and is the top earner of much-needed hard currency.

The Tanzania Tourist Board (TTB) has since embarked on a brand promotion campaign to boost the country’s international appeal and visibility.

Dubbed ‘Tanzania – Unforgettable,’ the move seeks to encourage travelers and tourists to visit and share Tanzania’s amazing tourism offering to the world.