Royal Tour film charms regional tourism expo

Ambassador of Tanzania in Burundi, Jilly Maleko addressing the media in Bujumbura recently. PHOTO | COURTESY

What you need to know:

  • The documentary by award winning American journalist Peter Greenberg is pulling crowds to the Tanzania pavillion at the tourism Expo taking place in Burundi.

Arusha. Royal Tour film is laying bare Tanzania’s unique attractions at a regional tourism expo in Burundi.

The documentary by award-winning American journalist Peter Greenberg is pulling crowds to the Tanzania pavilion at the show.

“Royal Tour film is among the highlights at our pavilion,” said Ms Jilly Maleko, Tanzania ambassador to Burundi.

She was speaking at the start of the second East African Community (EAC) Tourism Expo in Bujumbura on Saturday.

Ms Maleko said Tanzania would capitalise on the exhibition to market its iconic sites so as to attract more local and foreign tourists.

“Burundi is close to Tanzania, so when the show is over, the exhibitors can take advantage of proximity to visit our country,” she said.

Various tour companies and tourism-related agencies from Tanzania are taking part in an eight-day tourism Expo that comes to an end on September 30 this month.

Among the agency, is the Arusha International Conference Centre (AICC) which is promoting convention tourism.

The state-owned facility also operates the Julius Nyerere International Convention Centre (JNICC) in Dar es Salaam.

Ms Maleko said Tanzania’s main focus in tourism promotion is on the southern circuit which has not been fully tapped.

Recently President Samia Suluhu Hassan said another version of the Royal Tour film is underway for the southern circuit.

The original film, already premiered in various global Television networks, focussed on the northern circuit which remains the leading destination for visitors.

In it, President Hassan was the main guide, relating stories of the often hidden gems of Tanzania’s rich historical, cultural and natural attractions.

The destinations also included Zanzibar, Dar es Salaam and Mt Kilimanjaro, besides the game parks close to the country’s safari capital, Arusha.

Speaking at the Expo, EAC director of productive sectors Jean Baptiste Havugimana said all the citizens of the bloc are charged local rates when entering tourist sites.

This is according to a directive issued by the EAC Council of Ministers, the authoritative organ of the Community.

“This decision has been implemented by all partner states and indeed extended to hotels and other tourist accommodation establishments,” he pointed out.

Mr Havugimana said that as the region diversifies its tourism markets, increasing the range of its tourism product offerings was inevitable.

“Whereas we are quite competitive in terms of beach and wildlife safari tourism, we are urging EAC partner states to diversify their tourism products.

“At the regional level, we will work in conjunction with partner states to develop other products such as cultural tourism, sport tourism, agro-tourism and golf tourism,” he said.

He hinted that the EAC secretariat was keen on the initiative to branding the bloc as a single tourism destination. Tourism, the leading foreign exchange earning sector in the region, was heavily impacted by Covid-19 but has started to recover.

The bloc, which prior to 2019 used to receive over million visitors, lost 92 percent of tourist revenues due to Covid-19 pandemic with foreign tourists sharply dropping to a mere 2.25 million in 2020 which led to loss of jobs and revenue.

The regional tourism Expo, the second after the first one which took place in Arusha last year, was officially opened by Burundi Vice President Prosper Bazombanza who said despite partner states benefitting from tourism through its contribution to the GDP, foreign exchange earnings and jobs creation, the potential for the sector remains largely untapped.