Smart cards boost NCAA revenues by 20 billion/-

The Ngorongoro Conservation Area Authority (NCAA) has seen its annual earnings rise by over 20bn/- through use of re-chargeable smart cards.
NCAA is one of the leading tourist attractions in the country’s tourist circuits, receiving over 500,000 visitors per year.
Being one of the seven wonders of Africa, Ngorongoro, featuring its legendary crater tops the industry bill as being the country’s most visited tourist site. It has since the change of payment mode, seen revenue jump to over 52bn/- per year.
“We used to get 37bn/- at the entrance gates when the payments were done on cash basis, but now the NCAA records more than 52bn/- from almost the same number of tourists,” explained Joseph Mshana, who is the NCAA’s Planning and Finance Manager.
The NCAA started using smart cards in the year 2011, replacing the old method of cash payment through which much of the liquid cash amounting to 20bn/- used to get lost every year through dubious transactions.

Mshana said it is only the beginning and already the electronic payment system has proved to be useful revenue saving method.
“But there are still challenges arising from the new arrangement because many tour operators and their drivers (guides) are yet to get used to the smart cards and since some dubious dealers used to benefit from cash transactions, they are trying to torpedo the electronic cards’ systems,” the official said.
“Some drivers and tour guides used to collude with our officers at the gates in hatching schemes that enabled them to by-pass a number of procedures and regulations related to entrance fees’ payments,” explained one of the cash officers at the Loduare Gate, adding: “Many drivers and guides are not quite happy with the system and always try to find faults with it.”
Principal Tourism officer, Asantaeli Melita said that NCAA gets 75 percent of all tourists visiting Tanzania and thus it is the country’s most sensitive destination which calls for strict handling of its tourism related income.
In 2013, NCAA earned over 53 bn/- from tourists up from the 37.2bn/- revenue recorded in 2010 when the cash transaction was last conducted. The difference is credited to the use of smart card based, electronic payment system which went into effect in 2011.
The number of tourists visiting the crater has risen from 178,443 visitors in 1996 to 588,606 in 2011 and nearly 600,000 last year with the number expected to rise in future. There are many attractions in Ngorongoro but crater alone gets an average of 150,000 visitors.

SOURCE: THE GUARDIAN