Tanzania president calls for competitive East African tourism

(eTN) – Speaking on challenges for East African tourism, Tanzanian president Jakaya Kikwete said this part of Africa has been a tourist hotspot, attracting over four million tourists each year.

(eTN) – Speaking on challenges for East African tourism, Tanzanian president Jakaya Kikwete said this part of Africa has been a tourist hotspot, attracting over four million tourists each year.

In his official address at the opening of the hospitality and tourism complex at the Kenyatta University in Nairobi last week, the Tanzanian president said tourism has been a milestone for socio-economic development in the East African region.

โ€œIt is an open secret that tourism is an important sector for the economies of the East African Community member states. Also, East Africa is an important tourist destination in the worldโ€, he said.

He said the tourism and hospitality industry are pillars of the regionโ€™s socio-economic development and poverty reduction endeavors, while tourism has an incredible multiplier effect, better than many other sectors.

In 2010, the Tanzanian president said, the East African region received about 4.3 million tourists and holiday makers from abroad. This is a small number, when it is compared to the worldโ€™s total of over 900 million tourist arrivals in 2010, meaning that the region can do better.

โ€œWe have earned a substantial amount of foreign exchange from tourist activities: indeed this industry has made a significant contribution to the incomes of our respective nations and peoplesโ€, he told delegates at the event.

โ€œIt is an important source of tax revenues to our governments. For example in 2011, the tourist sector accounted for 17% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in Tanzania; 5.7% of the GDP in Kenya; 4.0% of the GDP in Uganda; 3.3% of the GDP in Rwanda and 3.6% of the Burundian GDPโ€, he added.

In addition, he said that there are many East Africans whose livelihood solely depends on tourism, adding that โ€œtourism, therefore, is a key sector which deserves the attention of our governments, the business community and the people of East Africaโ€.

โ€œGiven the potential that the region has in terms of tourist attraction, I am sure the industry can grow even further if we take the right steps. Specifically we need to identify what else needs to be done that we have not done yetโ€, he said.

โ€œWe have to figure out what challenges we need to overcome. The first challenge we need to deal with is inadequate skilled manpower and expertise in tourism management and in the hospitality industryโ€, he told the event attendees.

โ€œSkilled manpower and experts that would transform the existing potential of our region into meaningful economic gains, that is who we needโ€, he said.

A region may have natural beauty and all imaginable tourist attractions, but without appropriate expertise to exploit that potential the region and its people will not be able to enjoy the fruits of our God-given gifts, he emphasized.

โ€œThe second challenge is the lack of adequate supportive physical and institutional infrastructure to promote tourism in the region. Our physical connectivity in terms of roads, air and waterways is not well developed and in some places poor or non-existentโ€, he added.

Hotels, restaurants and other tourist services are inadequate. Some of these hotels and related services are not of good quality. In this regard, therefore, we need to work together to overcome these shortcomings and improve regional connectivity and services to tourists, he noted.

โ€œThis, we cannot do alone as governments. We need to encourage both the domestic and international private sector to rise to challenge and to invest in the tourism sector. I have in mind expanded air and surface transport, increased numbers of high standard hotels, tourism marketing and enhanced cooperation among key stakeholdersโ€, the Tanzanian president said.

Regarding inadequate supportive institutional framework, โ€œWe need to work together to create strong domestic and regional institutions that would promote tourism in its totalityโ€, he said.

According to the Tanzanian president, the promotion of the East African region as a common destination is one matter that would need our utmost attention, taking into account that there is no need to compete and scramble for the same market.

โ€œIn my view, we stand to benefit more by working together and forging alliances instead of competing and creating rivalries. This is totally unnecessaryโ€, he said.

Indeed, several initiatives have been discussed and some are already being undertaken at regional level to promote the tourism sector, he said, adding: โ€œBut we need to do more. We could do joint promotion of the East African tourism marketโ€.

โ€œOur governments, embassies and stakeholders could do joint marketing in the tourist source countries. We could go to international tourist fairs together and jointly sell East African tourist attractionsโ€, Kikwete pointed out.

He added that there is also the proposed issuance of a single tourism visa for the East African tourist market, pointing out that, โ€œThis is another way to promote the community as a single tourist destination and create synergy in the tourism industry across the regionโ€.

โ€œIt is a great idea which can boost tourism in East Africa, however, we must make sure that it is properly structured and all the important issues are carefully considered before this innovative idea is implementedโ€, he said.

โ€œWe will need, for example, to address revenue sharing mechanisms; security issues; technological needs; manpower requirements and ensure that the required capacities are in placeโ€, the Tanzanian president noted.

โ€œBesides this, we should also address the issue of flights and air fares from the major tourist source markets to our region. Africa is not well served by global airlines and fares are higher than for similar distances in other regionsโ€, he noted.

โ€œThis in some ways acts as an obstacle to growth of the tourism sector in our countries. Besides developing our own airlines, we need to do more to encourage major airlines to increase flights and reduce faresโ€, Mr. Kikwete told the event audience.

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Linda Hohnholz

Editor in chief for eTurboNews based in the eTN HQ.

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