Why unlocking potential of southern and western tourism circuits is crucial

Dar es Salaam. The government should invest heavily in marketing, hospitality and infrastructure to boost tourism in the southern and western circuits after figures revealed that the total number of visitors in the two zones was more than eight times less compared to that of the northern circuit.

Statistics from the Ministry of Natural Resources and Tourism show that the southern and western circuits, with a total of nine national parks, received only 101,788 tourists compared to 805,420, who visited national parks in the northern zone in the year 2014/15.

Such gap has been experienced for a while with minor improvements after cumulative numbers between 2008/09 and 2014/15 showed the two zones received a total of 600,591 visitors, just far behind by nine times of those visited the northern circuit with six national parks. The national parks in the southern and western tourism circuits are: Mikumi, Ruaha, Katavi, Saanane, Mahale, Gombe. Udzungwa, Rubondo and Kitulo.

Poor performance of the zone has made the regions hosting the attractions - Kigoma, Katavi, Mwanza, Morogoro, Njombe and Iringa - to less benefit from tourism. The case with Arusha, Manyara, Kilimanjaro, Mara and Tanga, is completely the opposite.

Tourism is the largest foreign exchange earner since 2012, contributing an average of $2 billion annually, which is equivalent to 25 per cent of all exchange earnings, according to the government data. It also contributes to more than 17 per cent of the national Gross Domestic Product (GPD) and creating more than 1.5 million jobs, 500,000 of which are direct.

A survey by The Citizen in one of the largest national parks in the western circuit, Katavi, and the analysis of data from various sources, the gap in tourism performance in the two marginalised parks is attributed to lack of quality hotels, poor infrastructure and inadequate marketing.

On accommodation, according to the hospitality data from the Ministry of Natural Resources and Tourism, by December last year, the northern circuit had 90 hotels more than the western and southern circuit hotels combined. And the former had 2,106 more hotel rooms compared to the latter.

Until last year, the northern zone, which has six national parks: Serengeti, Kilimanjaro, Arusha, Mkomazi, Lake Manyara and Tarangire, hosted a total of 376 hotels with the capacity of accommodating about 12,204 guests per night. On the other hand, the western and southern circuit had only 286 hotels with the capacity of accommodating 6,288 visitors.

These figures suggest that the hospitality crisis is real. While hotel statistics by December show there are about 31 hotels in Katavi Region, a survey by The Citizen has established that there is only one two-star hotel and the rest are normal guest houses and lodges whose quality is low. Thus, despite its vastness and host of white giraffes, The Katavi has failed to attract as many visitors as it should have.

Mr Sirili Akko, Chief Executive Officer of the Tanzania Association of Tour Operators (Tato) says, poor infrastructure in most parts of the southern and western zone make the parts around there inaccessible. “It has been easy for tourists to arrive in Serengeti, Arusha and other sites in northern Tanzania because they are close to the Kilimanjaro International Airport than going to Gombe or Katavi,” he explained. The infrastructure problem in the area is a big headache to many investors and the government.

The Citizen paid a visit to Mpanda District in Katavi Region. This is where Katavi National Park (KNP) - the country’s third largest national park, with 4,471 square kilometers, is situated. Most of the roads are earth (gravel or dirt), which are unpaved. This has also played a part in dragging back the speed of investment in accommodation services. Mpanda can be accessed by from Mbeya, Kigoma and Tabora regions, but none of the roads linking the rich tourist zone is paved. From all points, tourists visiting Katavi travel between nine to 13 hours, and in addition to that, they will have to face accommodation challenges.

There is an airport, but it has become a white elephant as no passenger flight has opted the Mpanda route. Only chartered planes are flying to Mpanda Airport.

Tourists who prefer commercial flights are forced to travel via Songwe Airport currently served by two airlines: Fastjet and Precision Air and then travel by vehicle for more than nine hours to Katavi National Park.

Mpanda District commissioner Lilian Mtinga says Mpanda Airport is not used commercially as it receives one flight per week by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) which supplies humanitarian aid to Burundian refugees at Mishamo camp. “But with the purchasing of two air craft (by ATCL), I’m confident that the number of tourists will soon go up,” she says.

However, the Regional Head of Business Department, who is also acting Regional Administrative Secretary (RAS), Mr Awariywa Nnko, affirmed the government’s commitment to upgrade the 342km Tabora-Koga-Mpanda road. The road runs through two regions of Tabora and Katavi across three districts of Sikonge, Mlele and Mpanda.

Problems facing Katavi are similar to those facing Kigoma Region, which hosts two national parks —Gombe and Mahale.

Kigoma acting RAS Daniel Machunda says, geographical location, and poor accessibility to the parks found in the southern and western zone discourage visitors. “The Gombe National Park is surrounded by water, so given poor transportation services, it’s difficult for tourists to book for the trip. Also, there is weak investment into the sector,” he says.

Mr Akko, who has been pushing for improvements in the sector, says there is a need for serious marketing and advertisement of attractions in the southern and western zone. “This will stimulate business and other tourism related investments to marginalised tourism sites,” he adds. Boosting the two tourism circuits require a huge investment by the government and the private sector.

Sh210 billion budget has been set to boost tourism in the southern circuit for a period of six years under resilient natural resources management project. That will be used to fund infrastructure development, marketing and creating a sustainable tourism.

The project is implemented by the Ministry of Natural Resources and Tourism in collaboration with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).

In order for both zones - including the western zone which currently is not covered - the government will have to inject more funds. Unfortunately, in this financial year, the Tanzania Tourist Board (TTB), the mandated marketer of all tourists attractions in the country, has been allocated Sh4 billions, of which Sh2.6 billion is for promotion. Annual budgetary requirements of the Board are somewhere from Sh15 billion to Sh17 billion.

The amount allocated this year is small compared to the past four years. In 2012/13, the government set aside Sh4.6 billion for the TTB and the amount increased to Sh5.4 billion in the last financial year. “When we are facing our competitors, bigger budgets are needed so that we can clearly meet our targets,” TTB managing director Devota Mdachi tells The Citizen.

One of the largest competitors of Tanzania in tourism, Kenya, set aside KSh4.5 billion this financial year just for promotion. The amount is equivalent to Sh90 billions. This is 20 times more than what TTB gets.

Prof Wineaster Anderson of the University of Dar es Salaam Business School (UDBS) names the historical promotion of available attractions to be the causative agent for the poor performance of the south and western circuits. She says, for a long time, it has been a tradition to portray Tanzania as the land of Mount Kilimanjaro, Serengeti and Zanzibar, thus posing a natural death to other attractions.

This being the fact, country’s tourism activities become centred in the northern circuit and Zanzibar. “Practically, this has been blocking the awareness of foreigners on other tourism sites,” she argues, suggesting that, there must be concerted efforts to market attractions found in the southern and western zone in order to reap the same fruits as those gained in the northern circuit.

“There must be effective marketing strategies that will ensure immediate effects. The common promotions such as that one advertising Tanzania as the land of few attractions should be changed to ensure that all sites are given the same weight,” she stresses.

However, the Minister of Natural Resources and Tourism, Prof Jumanne Maghembe, says from this December there will be a direct flight from Tel Aviv, Israel, to Mpanda in a bid to boost the number of tourists there.

“We are looking forward to establishing the Dar-Kigoma-Mpanda route for the purpose of boosting the number of visitors. This will go along with promotion through advertisements,” says the Minister.