Tanzania must diversify its tourism promotion

(eTN) – The Tanzanian Ministry of Natural Resources and Tourism has given a heads up to efforts preserving and promoting the Amboni caves, located near Tanga along the Indian Ocean shores.

(eTN) – The Tanzanian Ministry of Natural Resources and Tourism has given a heads up to efforts preserving and promoting the Amboni caves, located near Tanga along the Indian Ocean shores.

The extensive caves, first protected in the twenties of the last century by the then colonial government, have a recorded history back into at least the 16th century of human habitation as a place of worship and a place of hiding during the struggle for independence. In the early 1960s, soon after independence, the caves were officially handed to a government department responsible for monuments and antiquities but were never really promoted to tourists visiting this part of the Tanzanian coastline.

A tourist board source, preferring anonymity, also agreed that Tanzania needs to do more to promote the lesser-known attractions more aggressively, showcasing the entire country just as much as they are presently promoting Mt. Kilimanjaro and the northern safari circuit of Tarangire, Lake Manyara, Ngorongoro, and the Serengeti.

“I think our best-known parks really need very little exposure now, because they are so well known, but what we need is to promote other national parks, game reserves, museums, and national monuments where visitors can see artifacts related to our different cultural heritages, rock paintings, to explore caves and see rare primates for instance at Gombe Stream. Mikumi and the Selous still have a lot of space for tented camps and lodges and can receive a lot more visitors, whereas the better-known parks are now reaching [their] saturation point. So in [the] future, we shall promote those much better to tell the market that there is a lot more to see than [the] Serengeti or Ngorongoro and have visitors come back time and again exploring a different part of our country.”

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Linda Hohnholz

Editor in chief for eTurboNews based in the eTN HQ.

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