Why should we depend on Kenya to develop our tourism?

In the Tuesday edition of the Daily News, there is a story on page two with the headline ‘Mugumu Airport now on horizon’. According to this story, a tender for construction of the much-awaited Mugumu Airport has finally been floated.

It is anticipated that the airport will transform the Mugumu town and surrounding areas socially and economically. The airport will have far reaching effects not only in Serengeti District, but it will also boost the tourism industry in general. 

When it is completed, the airport is expected to turn Mugumu into an gateway to Tanzania’s wildlife-rich Serengeti. If well managed, the airport will turn Mugumu and Serengeti into tourist hubs. If this is achieved, Tanzania might find itself solving the problem posed by Kenya’s decision to ban all Tanzania-registered tour vehicles from Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) in Nairobi.

The minister for Tourism, Mr Lazaro Nyalandu, travelled to Nairobi recently and met with his Kenyan counterpart. They are reported to have agreed to resolve the matter within three weeks. When the deadline ended with no tangible agreement, Kenya reintroduced the ban and Tanzania went into panic mode again.

Tanzania’s reaction to Kenya’s decision creates the impression that our country depends on Kenya to take advantage of its tourism riches. But the fact of the matter is that Tanzania is ranked third worldwide in terms of tourism attractions. It is amazing that the country should freak out after Kenya banned local tour vehicles from JKIA.

This is probably because the ministry has no independent plans to utilise its tourism potential. Though we have more than enough attractions, it seems we do not have plans and strategies to attract foreigners to our country.

It would appear that Kenya is better at selling its tourist attractions and most visitors to the region connect via Kenya. It is surprising that we are whining after Kenya banned us from picking visitors at JNIA yet Kilimanjaro International Airport (KIA) is within the northern tourist circuit. It takes at least six hours for a tourist to reach Arusha National Park from JNIA while it is only minutes from KIA to that park.

In the traditional scheme of things, local tour operators should be celebrating the ban on Tanzania’s vehicles from JKIA—if only because the government will have to think of ways to improve our tourism infrastructure and do away with dependency on our neighbours.

The fact of the matter is that if we seriously decide to develop our infrastructure and strategies, we will be in a better position to exploit our tourism potential. We will not need anyone else to give us a leg up. If we choose to go solo, our neighbours will probably come crawling back and beg us to consider including them in our tourism packages. The problem here is that we do not know how to take advantage of our wealth and use it to boost our economy. Kenya appears to be aware of this state of affairs and that is why it has decided to shut out Tanzania-registered vans.

The Mugumu Airport tender should not only be considered a significant development for the township. It should be seen also as part of a long-term solution to boost and develop our tourism. Mugumu Airport should be seen only as the beginning. We should then come up with more ideas and invest significantly in implementing them for the benefit of Tanzanians.

The hard reality as far as tourism is concerned is that our neighbours need Tanzania more than we need them. But that should not make us either complacent or big-headed. If any neighbour wants to co-operate with us in ways that will benefit the nation, we should be open in co-operating with them. If they think they can go solo and succeed, let us give them room to do so as long as we are sure that we will not suffer any consequences. If we can build Mugumu Airport, that will mean a lot in terms of infrastructural improvement, and it will enable us to service our tourism sector independently.

Mr Nyanje is News Editor of The Citizen weekend editions