Zanzibar — THE safety and security of the people, including tourists, should be of utmost concern to everyone in the islands.
Zanzibar Minister for Finance, Mr Omar Yussuf Mzee, said in Zanzibar
that all the stakeholders, including members of the Zanzibar Association
of Tourism Investors (ZATI) should be fully involved in the task.
Mr Mzee said this while addressing the ZATI annual general meeting
held in Zanzibar over the weekend, expressing concern about incidents in
the past two years.
"We should nurture the tourism industry by ensuring that tourists are
happy during their stay in the islands. Attacks on visitors cause an
adverse impact on the flow of tourists into the country," warned the
minister.
The minister said the government's objective was to increase the
number of tourists visiting the islands, since the tourism sector
currently accounted for about 80 per cent of the isles' foreign
earnings.
"Tourism growth also means additional employment generation.
Investors should also avoid tax evasion and giving wrong information
about the number of tourists in their hotels," he said.
ZATI chairperson, Mr Abdulsamad Said, appealed to the government to
improve security for visitors and review various taxes, arguing that the
rates were too high for business.
Mr Hamdan Omar, Commissioner of Police in Zanzibar, assured investors
that his office was working hard to make sure that there was peace and
stability in the isles by combating criminality.
"We need to work together to keep our islands safe. Tourism remains
important to our country; all of us therefore have the responsibility to
protect our visitors and ourselves," said Mr Omar.
SOURCE; Tanzania Daily News (Dar es Salaam)
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