Kigwangalla disbands tourist board and issues ultimatum
The minister for Natural Resources and Tourism, Dr Hamis Kigwangalla, (left), speaks to journalists during a press conference in Dar es Salaam yesterday.
PHOTO | ERICKY BONIPHACE
What you need to know:
- The minister says his decision to disband the board was well thought out and that the new members will help run TTB affairs properly
Dar es Salaam. The minister for Natural resources and Tourism, Dr Hamisi Kingwangalla, yesterday dissolved the Tanzania Tourist Board (TTB) board of directors and gave a seven-day ultimatum to government institutions, which were under his ministry to release funds to enable establishment of an electronic studio.
The minister said he decided to dissolve the board of directors in order to give new board members an opportunity to manage TTB properly.
“It’s over a year since I gave several directives to you so that you can implement them, but you are providing the feedback I want,” he said.
Mr Kingwangalla directed TTB to establish a digital system, which will help advertise the country’s tourism attractions to new markets such as China, Russia, Brazil, Australia, but the implementation of his directive was moving at a snail’s pace.
The minister also directed the board members to design brochures and CDs so that they could be distributed to all upcountry buses to enable passengers watch and read tourist attractions.
He said this yesterday after paying a visit to the TTB offices for discussion with the management on implementation of his directives.
He said the tourism sector has potential of increasing the number of visitors to eight million by 2025 and contribute Sh16 billion to the country’s economy.
Unfortunately, with the current pace of implementing the ministry’s directives, Tanzania cannot exploit the potential.
Some institutions, which have been given a seven-day ultimatum, include the Tanzania National Park (Tanapa), Tanzania Forest Service (TFS), Ngorongoro Conservation Centre (NCC) and TTB.
The total budget for establishing an electronic studio stands at Sh488 million, but so far only Sh97 million has been released with TTB releasing Sh17 million.
TTB marketing manager Geoffrey Meena said a room to set up the studio has been set and some of the equipment have been bought.
“We are in the final stage of setting up a studio, but we have a challenge of funds because some institutions have not the money we expected from them,” he said.
