Do more to market tourism, govt urged

Dodoma. Members of Parliament have called on the government to increase tourism promotion funds if the country wants to attract more foreign tourists.

Debating the proposed budget estimates for the ministry of Natural Resources and Tourism for 2017/18 since Tuesday evening throughout yesterday the MPs raised a unanimous concern that the government was not doing enough to in advertising local attractions in the global market.

The minister of Natural Resources and Tourism, Prof Jumanne Maghembe, on Tuesday told the Parliament that Tanzania received 1.2 million tourists in 2016 and plans were underway to attract up to two million tourists in 2020.

Mr Cosato Chumi (Mufindi Urban-CCM) said with the potential of tourism in boosting the national economy, the government hadn’t done enough to advertise tourist attractions.

“Last year, we only injected $2 million into advertising the sector of tourism, but a country as tiny as Rwanda with very limited attractions spent $8 million,” he said adding: “if we continue believing that tourists will keep on coming to Tanzania simply because we have abundant attractions, we will be lying to ourselves and countries with limited attractions, but extensive advertising strategies will keep doing better in terms of attracting tourists than us.”

Ms Lucy Owenya (Special Seats-Chadema) said Tanzania Tourist Board (TTB), which has the responsibility of promoting the country’s attractions was operating with limited funds. “In 2016/17, TTB asked for Sh2.7 billion, but they have so far received only Sh422 million,” she said.

Mr Edwin Sanda (Kondoa Urban-CCM) noted that the number of tourists visiting Tanzania would not increase on its own. “We must inject enough funds into advertising our attractions and make prospective tourists consider Tanzania as a favourable destination,” she noted.