Government gets 4tr/- as flow of tourists increases
The tourism sector has contributed a total of two billion US dollars (about 4tril/-) to the government’s national revenue due to the increase of flow of tourists in the country, the Prime Minister, Mr Kassim Majaliwa, has said.
Moving budget estimates for his ministry for 2017/2018 financial year here on Thursday, the Premier told the National Assembly that the number of tourists increased from 1,137,182 in 2015 to 1,284,279 in 2016, an increase of 12 per cent.
He stated that efforts, which have started to improve services of Air Tanzania Corporation Limited (ATCL), were also aimed at contributing to the tourist sector through transportation of both local and foreign tourists. “Our target is to increase the number of tourists who come to visit our country and revenues from the sector.
I take this opportunity to implore the private sector to invest more in the essential infrastructure for this sector, including hotel, improve services and develop new techniques to attract tourists,” he said.
The prime minister pointed out that tourism was one of the key sectors that contributed to the country’s economy. According to him, around the world, the success of the tourism sector largely depended, on strong tourism infrastructure, good services, defense and security.
“In order to continue to benefit from the industry, the government improves the tourism infrastructure, expanding the scope of new tourist attractions and enhance the air services,” he said. Mr Majaliwa further pointed out that the government was making massive efforts to control poaching and illegal wildlife trade where 897 suspects were arrested, among them 282 suspects, who had been taken to court to face various related charges.
Tanzania is a country with many tourist attractions. Approximately 38 percent of Tanzania’s land area is set aside in protected areas for conservation. There are 16 national parks, 29 game reserves, 40 controlled conservation areas, including the Ngorongoro Conservation Area and marine parks.
Apart from being the home to Mount Kilimanjaro, the highest point in Africa, Tanzania has also a large variety of animal life. The large mammals include the Big five – rhino, hippopotamus, elephant and the buffalo. There are also cheetahs, wildebeest, giraffes, wildebeest and various antelopes.
Tanzania’s most well known wildlife attractions are located in the northern part of the country. They include the Serengeti National Park, Tarangire National Park and Lake Manyara National Park. The Serengeti National Park encompasses the world famous great migrations of animals. It is the most popular park in the country.
The north is also home to the Ngorongoro Conservation Area. The Ngorongoro Conservation Area includes the Ngorongoro Crater, which is an extinct volcanic caldera with lions, hippopotamus, elephants, various types of antelope, the endangered black rhinoceros, large herds of wildebeest and zebra. Such Crater also holds the Olduvai Gorge, considered to be the seat of humanity after the discovery of the earliest known specimens of the human genus, Homo habilis as well as early hominidae, such as Paranthropus boisei.
The western part of Tanzania includes the Mahale, Katavi, and Gombe national parks, the latter of which is the site of Jane Goodall’s ongoing study, begun in 1960, of chimpanzee behaviour.
For sub-Saharan African countries with few evident opportunities to diversify export earnings away from primary commodities, tourism has emerged as an option to contribute to economic growth.
Results show that tourism has a significant impact on output and incomes, especially taking into account the strong inter-sector linkage effects, although this has not been translated into corresponding employment gains.
The tourism sector also contributes to tax revenue and foreign exchange earnings. Overall, tourism is shown to make a significant economic contribution.