Tanzania: Private Sector Keen On Tourism

Interview — Uganda displayed its tourism attractions to tour operators, media and other partners through a fam trip conducted before The Pearl of Africa Tourism Expo in Kampala. Representatives from Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda, Burundi, Zambia, Italy, Dubai, South Africa and the US attended the trip which involved gorilla and chimpanzee trekking in Bwindi and Kibale forest respectively; Queen Elizabeth National Park; cultural performances and many others. East African Tourism Platform (EATP), the regional private sector tourism apex body, was one of the partners of both the expo and the trip. In this interview, BusinessWeek Reporter Alawi Masare spoke to EATP coordinator Carmen Nibigira on different regional issues. Read on:

As a regional private sector body, does the East African Tourism Platform have a target to raise the sector revenue in the EAC?

Of course we have the target and strategies to raise tourism in East Africa, but we look at first how we can overcome some of the challenges within us to achieve those objectives. So, from the East African Tourism Platform perspective, first of all we look at how we can create synergies for tourism to grow. That can only be done by looking at how all the five countries in the region can work together from policies, strategies, product development, management, human resources, skills capacity and also how we engage in selling East Africa as one destination outside the region.

When we talk about tourism growth - revenue sharing, jobs creation, touching the whole value-chain - we look at it from an organic way. Let's first of all develop a system to allow whether a farmer producing vegetables to hotels to tap into the benefits of tourism or hotel owner to generate income, pay taxes and make a contribution to the region.

Therefore, EATP is more concerned with linking up businesses where tourism is happening. Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda, Burundi and Uganda are all doing tourism but we want to bring them to work together because we believe collaboration will remove this mentality of working in isolation just in a small single market. Let's make it bigger because tourism is growing.

So, what is the target then?

The target of EATP is first of all to see East African citizens travelling within EAC and here we are talking about a population of around 152 million. We are looking at a growing middle class, an educated population seeking tourism experiences, services and products. The big question is: is East Africa ready?

The use of national IDs and student cards need to be shared and informed with everyone in East Africa. This is a tool, so how can we harness the benefits of a tool which is already existing? This goes beyond just tourism; it's an open door for trade, business and linking countries for more socio-economic opportunities for us EA citizens.

For tourism we target at least 10 per cent of the 152 million people discovering East Africa. Making EAC their first choice of tourism destination before going anywhere else whether it is for leisure, sports, education, health, conference etc. Looking at the global targets, we still have a long way to go as a region.

What is the situation in tourist arrivals in the East African region?

The combined tourist arrivals in all the EA countries is less than 7 million, and we know we can do better than this. However, while we talk about one billion tourists globally, all five East African countries hold a small share of this market. We believe the potential is there, let's work together to make it happen. Our lenses are now focused on inter and intra regional tourism, without any doubt the region is a source market so far ignored, it is time that things changed.

What do you think is the potential?

From a comparative and competitive advantage, EAC has much to offer. Without any doubt we are the destination for wildlife, a fusion of culture and amazing heritage. We are a blend of so many things coming together. Now it's about packaging the products together to make sure the region is competitive, connected and responds to new trends and markets whether in Africa, Asia, US or Europe. Competition out there is very stiff, consumers are now so educated, they seek more engagement, they are price-sensitive, EAC needs to be a destination of choice.

Which are the challenges currently affecting tourism in East Africa?

I can put that in three categories. One is about products. Some of our products are either tired or not developed. Culture is one example of the products which are hard to sell unless well packaged. We cannot say that Maasai culture will define East Africa. Many regions in Kenya or Tanzania have different cultures ranging from food, dressing to music which is very unique but not captured.

There are kinds of products that have been there for about five decades. We have emerging products which have not been developed enough to compete in the global market and there are new ones which have not been introduced to the market.

Challenge number two is about connectivity. We cannot talk about tourism unless we connect the East African region by roads, air and waterways. We have to ensure also that infrastructure is in place to allow people to travel through our border points safely and give value for money. Thirdly, it is about pricing. East Africa is still one of the most expensive destinations in Africa and in the world actually. It's expensive to both East Africans and those from outside the region.

Other challenges can be bundled in skills, standards and some of our policies not conducive to tourism development from a regional perspective to name but a few.

Now let's talk about the single tourist visa currently being implemented by Kenya, Rwanda and Uganda. What do you think Tanzania and Burundi are losing by staying out of the initiative and what could the three countries be missing from the two nations which are still out?

Good question. The single tourism visa was created with a clear mind to make life easier for tourists who want to come to the East African countries. The purpose was actually to help tourists as our consumers to easily reach Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, Burundi and Rwanda by accessing visas from their nearest embassies of one of the countries and we all agreed.

Whenever they come to say Uganda, do we want to limit the visitors where they can spend money? No! We want them to spend money anywhere in the region using the same visa.

Let us focus to the consumer who is a tourist. We want them to have a hassle-free journey to the region and at the same time ensure every country benefits even when a tourist has not been to all countries. That single visa is a shared benefit and a tool to attract tourists. With the current single tourist visa, as our working tool, even when a visitor goes to Rwanda alone, Kenya and Uganda will benefit because it's a shared benefit.

So, Tanzania and Burundi are losing out from that perspective.

It should be noted that we all depend so much on tourism. This is our dinner bread and one of the biggest socio-economic sectors with huge contribution to our GDPs in East Africa. In all the five countries tourism occupies one of the three top economic sectors. Every single dollar coming from tourism to either Kenya or Uganda will in one way or another benefit the region. So, let's now move from a jbird-eye view of distance to a helicopter view for the region to benefit from it.

Let's not focus on who is the winner and loser... we all need to be winners. Let's focus on the consumer we want to serve who is a tourist.

Are there any achievements of the single tourist visa in the three countries which are implementing it?

I will look at it in the private sector perspective. Borders have been opened, people are trading more and more and businesses are growing between the three countries. Tour operators are benefiting from the initiative. Let's talk about business.

What is your message to Tanzania and Burundi as far as the single tourist visa is concerned?

We all agreed that we need tourists to visit our countries and our region, this is something I am certain has no objection. We all spend our resources and energy to attract tourists, considerable financial resources in marketing. Let's make sure that the tourists visit and stay in our region, they are encouraged to spend more, this will trickle down economic growth. We are living in times when competition is stiff. The more we make it complicated to visit our region, the more they will choose other alternatives. Tanzania and Burundi should join the single tourist visa. You are not losing; you are actually gaining from it.

Uganda is having the Pearl of Africa Tourism Expo to sell the destination and such initiatives have been common in the region. What is the role of such initiatives in the tourism growth?

These events are important to discover the destination and allow more investors. These are opportunities to showcase what a country has, educate hosted buyers and inform the general public about what the country has to offer. One of the biggest challenges we are facing is the lack of knowledge and information. We citizens of Africa need to be educated, informed and most importantly, we need to have a new narrative on how we engage ourselves into tourism. Tourism has been designed, developed and marketed from a western perspective, it is time that we did our homework properly.

It's time for some stakeholders to identify themselves from others. We learned that Uganda has the biggest accommodation and conference centre in the region. Can that be leveraged to a country like Kenya? Where does Rwanda stand today as we know they are about to launch a very aggressive strategy for MICE? Can we all pull our combined resources, strengths and capabilities to market East Africa as one destination? I believe it is possible.