Tanzania: U.S.100 Million Dollars Lined Up for Southern Circuit Tourism

Dodoma — THE government expects to secure a 100 million US dollar loan to be invested in a special campaign for the promotion and development of conservation and tourism activities in the Southern Circuit.

Deputy Minister for Natural Resources and Tourism, Mr Mahmoud Mgimwa, said here that the government, in collaboration with the World Bank, had launched the ambitious plan to market the circuit.

"For many years we concentrated on the Northern Circuit and did not do enough to market the Southern Circuit despite its vast attractions," said Mr Mgimwa when replying to Mr Nyambari Nyangwine (CCM-Tarime), who, among other things, sought to know why Tanzania, despite its numerous and unique attractions, was not the most popular tourist destination.

The legislator also sought to know government strategies to attract more tourists to the country and to promote cultural tourism.

The deputy minister said the government was currently implementing a fiveyear Tanzania Destination Marketing Strategy which, he said, would catapult the country to one of the premier tourist destinations in the world.

He added that during the 2015/16 financial year, the government would continue to market its attractions all over the world through CNN International and BBC and advertise in the stadium of English Premier League club, Sunderland FC.

On cultural tourism, the deputy minister said as of April, this year, 60 groups had been trained and registered in the Ngorongoro Conservation Area where cultural bomas had been attracting many tourists.

He however conceded that limited budget for promotion of its attractions was costing the country dearly, noting that Kenya and South Africa fared better because of massive investments in promotional campaigns.

He added that the country needed to improve its hotel services, road, air and marine transport and invest in human resources to cope with the expected bigger influx of tourists as the promotional campaigns gradually paid dividends.

Mr Mgimwa said the government was working closely with other East African Community (EAC) countries to market the region in various international exhibitions and forums.