Tanzania tourism shows recovery signs despite Covid threat

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Dar es Salaam. As growing numbers of countries around the world ease restrictions on travel, Tanzania’s tourism sector has shown signs of recovery, with the number of tourists and earnings steadily rising.

The Bank of Tanzania (BoT) said in its Quarterly Economic Bulletin for the second quarter of 2021 that improvement in the travel sector is already working wonders.

In June 2021, for example, the tourism services accounted for a surplus of $250.2 million, a significant increase from the surplus of $81.1 million recorded in the same quarter in 2020.

The central bank said that this was largely driven by positive performance of the travel and transportation sector.

“The number of international visitors was 145,165 compared with 22,305 in the quarter that ended with June 2020, reflecting gradual recovery of tourism activities,” BoT says.

Tourism was Tanzania’s leading foreign exchange earner by 2019.

But the earnings dropped to $1 billion in 2020, down from $2.6 billion in 2019 following the outbreak of the viral Covid-19 pandemic which disrupted economic activities in the world.

Accordingly to BoT, foreign tourist arrivals in 2020 fell to 616,491, from 1.5 million in 2019.

Tourism earnings decelerated, reaching $795.8 million in the year to May 31, 2021, BoT says. However, since then, a number of initiatives have been put in place to bolster the sector’s recovery.

This includes the National Standard Operating Procedures, which were initiated by the government for the management of Covid-19 in the tourism business.

The procedures lay out the operating standards that each player must abide by in the handling of travellers from their point of entry to departure.

Tanzania also plans to be the host for the first East African Regional Tourism Expo (EARTE) which is scheduled to take place in Arusha from October 9 to October 16 this year.

The event is aimed at promoting tourism attractions available in Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi and South Sudan as well as regional B2B engagements.

President Samia Suluhu Hassan has also played a key role in the sector’s rebranding where she has recently starred in an international documentary that is aimed at promoting Tanzania and its tourist spots across the globe.