By Apolinari Tairo
Published December 7, 2017
Tanzania has asked Germany and China to assist it in attracting more tourists through technical support.
Hamisi Kigwangala, Tanzania’s Minister for Natural Resources and Tourism, has requested German and Chinese ambassadors in Tanzania to help market the East African country’s tourism in their respective countries to attract investors and travellers from their respective countries.
Dr Kigwangala, in a meeting with the Chinese ambassador Wang Ke and her German counterpart, Dr Detlef Wachter, asked them to use their diplomatic positions in helping attract business to Tanzania.
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“Our major target is to see that Tanzania attracts many Chinese tourists, with more Chinese investors in hotels capturing Tanzania’s tourism through construction of high-class resorts,” Dr Kigwangala said.
The minister also said he has been taking serious plans to attract direct flights from China to Tanzania in an effort to draw more Chinese visitors to the country.
Devota Mdachi, Managing Director of Tanzania Tourist Board, says China is a tourist market source which Tanzania is looking to tap.
“We are taking the Chinese big population to market tourism which can attract big groups of Chinese to visit Tanzania,” she said.
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TTB has been participating in various tourism fairs and exhibitions in China to expose Tanzania’s tourist products, mainly wildlife, the Indian Ocean beaches and historical sites.
This has seen the number of Chinese visitors to Tanzania rising from 13760 in 2012 to 21246 in 2016.
Though China National Tourism Administration (CNTA) headquartered in Beijing has recognised and approved Tanzania as one of the eight African countries to visit by Chinese holidaymakers, TTB has launched a campaign to market Tanzania’s wildlife, cultural heritage, Mount Kilimanjaro, historical sites, and the Indian Ocean beaches to the Chinese tourist market.
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Tanzania and China have in 2017 signed a Memorandum of Understanding to allow Chinese tourist groups to visit Tanzania. Other African tourist destinations participating in the programme include Kenya, Seychelles, Zimbabwe, Tunisia, Ethiopia, Mauritius, and Zambia.
Germany, on its part, has been a good source for tourists visiting Tanzania every year. The number of German tourists to Tanzania rose from 36626 in 2012 to 53951 lin 2017.
The most attractive Tanzanian sites to Germans include the old German buildings, cultural heritage sites and Mount Kilimanjaro expeditions.
German government has been financing wildlife conservation programmes, mostly in Serengeti eco-system in the north and the Selous Game Reserve in the South of the country since 1959.
An eTurboNews article
