Conference set to discuss tourism development in Tanzania

tanzania summit
tanzania summit
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Written by Linda Hohnholz

TANZANIA (eTN) – Taking an apparent move to tap and develop new tourist products in Tanzania, tourist stakeholders are scheduled to meet in Tanzania’s northern tourist city of Arusha next month to c

TANZANIA (eTN) – Taking an apparent move to tap and develop new tourist products in Tanzania, tourist stakeholders are scheduled to meet in Tanzania’s northern tourist city of Arusha next month to chart out strategies that would open more visitor avenues, aimed to make the country a leading destination in Africa.

Rich with diversified tourist attractions, Tanzania is looking at best options that would tap more attractions other than wildlife resources.

A two-day conference with the theme “Mpingo Tourism Summit 2014” has been organized to attract key experts in tourism, and who will deliberate on positive strategies that would expose problems hindering tourism growth in Tanzania.

Reports from Tanzania’s Ministry of Tourism said the conference, set to take place from September 22 to 23, had attracted experienced experts in the tourism industry who will share experience and advice on the best way forward on development of Tanzania’s tourism.

The conference has committed its theme to Africa’s famous ebony tree “Mpingo” which is used to produce the world’s leading Makonde carvings.

According to organizers of the conference, there has been an operational gap between policymakers and private players on the ground which hindered tourism development in Tanzania.

Lack of airline connecting Tanzania with other African and key tourist market cities across the world had so far affected development of tourism in the country.

As a result, Tanzanian tour operators depend on foreign-registered airlines, mostly Kenya Airways, Emirates, Qatar Airways, KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, Swiss Air, South African Airways, and Ethiopian Airlines as key carriers of their clients from various corners of the world.

More than 40 percent of the estimated one million tourists visiting Tanzania annually have to land at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport in Kenya, then cross the border to visit Tanzania’s leading northern wildlife parks.

Air tickets constitute about 60 percent of the tourist spending which Tanzania has been losing, stakeholders said.

Pertinent issues to be arising during the Arusha conference agenda are the new strategies for tourism products, development, local government participation, sustainable tourism development, the poaching menace, tourism policy modeling, the destination, and reputation.

Most eminent personalities in tourism with international recognition will give their rich overviews. Among them is Dirk Elzinga, the Managing Director of Convention Industry Consultants (Pty.) Ltd. in Cape Town, South Africa, who will lead a discussion on some of the topics during the summit.

Chad Shiver, a Senior Executive with Trip Advisor in London, has been invited to share his experience at the conference.

Silver is expected to share ideas which will help lift up Tanzania from among the lowest in rankings. Trip Advisor’s DMO team’s responsibilities include working with and developing relationships with tourist boards across Europe, the Middle East, and Africa.

Organizers said the aim of the conference is to bring together key stakeholders of the tourism industry to address the issues facing the industry and develop solutions centered on exploiting the potentiality of the sector while still ensuring its continuity for the future generations.

Tourism experts from Global Skill Consulting from South Africa, which is a co-organizer of the conference, believe that the tourism sector stakeholders have an opportunity to strike a correct balance between exploitation and conservation, as well as between economic interests and the social, environmental, and cultural impact of human activity on the tourism industry.

The conference is aimed at providing a way forward through its sound objectives that do not compromise environment and cultural integrity of the country with objectives of developing future viability of the tourism sector; sharing experience among the sector’s key stakeholders, namely the government, the private sector, and communities involved; and learning from relevant international case studies of similar cases.

Other objectives of the conference are the provision of a platform for airing out issues related to tourism and developing possible solutions and opportunity for networking among people involved in various aspects of the industry.

The conference will set its outcome by developing stronger partnership between various stakeholders of the industry, through shared vision and improved understanding of responsible tourism for the country, and the provision of a basis for a responsible tourism network.

In recognition of rich, untapped attractions available in this African destination, the Tanzania Tourist Board (TTB) has launched a program to identify all tourist attractive sites in the whole of Tanzania for marketing and promotion.

The program which is currently under implementation, has applied technical experts who are currently looking and searching Tanzania’s rich tourism to identify the visitor sites in need of development and marketing.

Among the new tourist attractions targeted by the Tourism Board are the historical sites which are rich with past and educative attractions including the old German architecture and buildings, early Arab settlements along the Indian Ocean coast, Portuguese trails and forts, and areas developed with early Christian churches of the medieval architecture, among others.

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Avatar of Linda Hohnholz

Linda Hohnholz

Editor in chief for eTurboNews based in the eTN HQ.

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