New drive raises tourism revenue by $200m: BoT

Dar es Salaam. Tanzania’s tourism revenue increased by 9.5 per cent to $2.3 billion in 2017, the latest monthly economic review of the central bank indicates.

According to the central bank’s January economic review, tourism receipts reached $2.3 billion in the year to December 2017 compared with $2.1 billion recorded in the previous year.

The Bank of Tanzania (BoT) attributes the increase to the increased number of tourist arrivals which is the outcome of increased tourism promotion by the government and private sector.

However, the central bank did not indicate how many visitors exactly were received in 2017.

The growth of the revenue comes at the time when the government is intensifying measures to open up new opportunities for the sector to grow.

Tourism is currently the leading foreign exchange earner – leaving behind manufacturing, transport and other services.

The World Bank recommended three pillars in 2014 towards improving Tanzania’s tourism and probably achieve the government ambitions of collection $16 billion a year come 2025.

It suggested diversification of geographic locations and tourism segments as currently it caters to the high-value tourist who can pay several thousand dollars to see animals while in the northern circuits of around Arusha and Zanzibar.

It said diversification of the industry would include both expanding geographic options and other tourist attractions that meet the expectations of a broader range of tourists, such as beach activities, cultural as well as business tourism.

Currently, the government in partnership with the World Bank is working on opening up the potentials of the southern circuit.

Last year, the World Bank approved $150 million credit to help improving management of natural resources and tourism assets in the southern Tanzania over six years.

The project dubbed Resilient Natural Resource for Tourism and Growth (Regrow) was launched by the Vice President Samia Suluhu Hassan on Monday in Iringa.

Minister for Natural Resources and Tourism Dr Hamis Kigwangalla was quoted in the Parliament recently that the government planned to construct 15 airstrips in the southern circuit.

The project also seeks to implement an ambitious marketing andbranding campaign, to increase tourism-related visits to the Southern Circuit. Iringa would also be turned into the gateway town for the circuit as well as improve the country’s capacity to conserve its wildlife as a tourists-attracting agency.

The Southern Circuit includes several National Parks -Katavi, Kitulo, Mahale, Udzungwa Mountains, Mikumi and Ruaha and Game Reserves (with Selous being the largest), two rift valley lakes (Nyasa and Tanganyika), areas of cultural interest, and access to the primary gateway town of Iringa.

Regrow will promote investments inside four Protected Areas, considered to be catalytic for the consolidation of the circuit: Ruaha, Mikumi and Udzungwa Mountains National Park, and Selous Game Reserve.

The second pillar by the World Bank is about integration of tourism activities at existing attractions meaning that Tanzania’s tourism industry is not creating enough high-value, productive jobs for local workers, with an average worker making only one-third of what his or her counterpart makes in Kenya.

The third pillar is about improvement in the quality of governance. The World Bank said the tourism industry is currently constrained by the imposition of multiple taxes and levies that discourage investors, particularly small investors and increases opportunities for rent seeking and corruption. This pillar involves the implementation of a fair, business-friendly taxation system and the development of transparent redistribution mechanisms, including to local stakeholders.