Tanzania: More Tourist Hotel Rooms Expected

By Adam Ihucha

Arusha — The government is planning to increase high-class hotel rooms in an effort to keep pace with the growing number of tourists.

The plan is also expected to boost the competitiveness of the multibillion-dollar tourism industry on a global scale.

Natural Resources and Tourism minister Jumanne Maghembe said under the initiative new areas would be earmarked for new hotels to attract tourists.

Prof Maghembe told tourism stakeholders here recently that the state eyed prime areas particularly along the coast and around the lakes Victoria and Tanganyika.

"The export processing zones model can be used to accommodate more new upper hotel rooms that are urgently needed to keep pace with the increasing number of tourists," he explained.

Although tourism industry raked in more than $2 billion in 2014, the future growth of the sector is uncertain due to the shortage of hotel rooms.

Tourism directly employs around 600,000 people.

Latest statistics from the Ministry of Natural Resources and Tourism indicate that country has 174 registered tourist hotels with total rooms of 21,929. Of the number, 91 hotels are in Tanzania's northern safari capital, Arusha.

This reflects a serious shortage of hotel rooms to accommodate the rising number of holidaymakers. In 2014, Tanzania attracted 1,140,156 tourists.

Tanzania Association of Tour Operators CEO Sirili Akko has welcomed the blueprint, saying it will go a long way to spur boost tourism development. "As we welcome the move but the state should also consider developing other tourism-related infrastructure and recreation facilities to attract foreign tourists."

According to the five-year marketing plan rolled out in 2013, Tanzania expects to attract 2 million tourists by 2017, boosting the revenue from $2 billion to nearly $3.8 billion.

The World Bank said Tanzania could earn an average of $16 billion a year in the next decade if the government takes serious measures to reform the sector.