analysis
By Adam Ihucha
Arusha
— Poaching, multiple taxes, poor infrastructure and inadequate
promotion funds should be tackled for Tanzania to realise its target of
attracting two million tourists annually in the next five years, tourism
players say.
The ruling Chama
cha Mapinduzi has committed itself through its General Election
manifesto to boost tourist arrivals to two million come 2020, up from
one million in 2015.
To attract more
tourists, private players say President John Magufuli should spare no
effort to crack down hard on the poachers, the traders, the middlemen
and financiers to finish off the syndicate. Poaching threatens wildlife
and ultimately a thriving multibillion-dollar tourism industry, its
related jobs, revenues and the whole value chain, as sooner than later,
there will be nothing to attract the long haul of tourists.
Over the past six
years, more than 80,000 of the country's elephants have been slaughtered
for their ivory in yet another sign humanity could soon drive the great
pachyderms to extinction.
Other threats are
loss of natural habitat through human activities incompatible with
conservation interests such as cultivation, overstocking of livestock,
deforestation, use of pesticides and pollution. "It is an open secret
that if we, Tanzanians, do not conserve our wildlife and look after our
natural assets then nature-based tourism will not be able to attract two
million tourists come 2020," the CEO of the Tanzania Association of
Tour Operators (Tato), Sirili Akko explains.
"We need to review our promotion budget as well as new strategies on how best we can do to attract more tourists
Wildlife tourism in
Tanzania continues to grow, with more than 1 million guests visiting
the country annually, earning the country $2.05 billion, equivalent to
nearly 17.6 per cent of the GDP.
Additionally,
tourism provides 600,000 direct jobs to Tanzanians; over one million
people earn an income from tourism not to mention the value chain of
tourism which supports parks, conservation areas and now community-
based wildlife management areas as well as farmers, transporters, fuel
stations, spare parts suppliers, builders, tent manufacturers, suppliers
of food and drinks.
Multiple taxes, levies and fees on tourism, players say, make Tanzania an expensive destination.
"We need to address
the issue of multiple taxes if we are going to succeed to bring two
million tourists to Tanzania by 2020 and compete with other countries
with similar attractions," says the CEO of Hotels Association of
Tanzania, Lathifa Sykes.
Indeed, tour
operators in Tanzania are currently subjected to 32 different taxes, 12
being business registration and regulatory licence fees as well as 11
duties for each tourist vehicle per annum and nine others.
According to Tato
immediate chairman Willy Chambullo, the contentious issue is modality
and time spent in complying with intricate taxes.
"It's cheaper to
pay penalty for doing business illegally than complying with the complex
tax regime in tourism trade in Tanzania," he says.
Assessment of the
Tanzanian tourism sector indicates that the administrative burdens of
completing licence tax and levy paperwork place a heavy cost on
businesses in terms of time and money.
For instance, a
tour operator spends over four months to complete regulatory paperwork,
whereas tax and licence paperwork consume his or her a total of 745
hours per year.
The report,
prepared by the Tanzania Confederation of Tourism (TCT) and BEST-D,
shows that the average annual cost of personnel to complete regulatory
paperwork per local tour operator is Sh2.9 million per year.
All these costs are
normally passed along to end-user consumers, making Tanzania expensive
and places the tourism industry in a disadvantaged position.
Tanzania also faces a shortage of hotel rooms to accommodate the higher-end holiday-makers.
Despite a
record-breaking 2014 in which the tourism industry raked in more than $2
billion, the future growth of the sector is uncertain due to the
shortage of hotel rooms.
Latest statistics
by the Ministry of Natural Resources and Tourism indicate that the
country is home to 174 registered tourist hotels with a total room
capacity of 21,929. Of the number, 91 hotels are in Arusha.
This reflects a
serious shortage of hotel rooms to accommodate the number of
holiday-makers as in 2014 the natural-resources-rich-country attracted
1,140,156 tourists.
On promotion, tour
operators fear that Tanzania could easily lose its tourism grip to Kenya
as the north neighbour is taking serious measures to attract more
tourists.
While Kenya and
other African destinations have set out big budgets to market their
tourist attractions, Tanzania spends less than $4 million on marketing
and promotion of its tourism annually.
Indeed, Kenya's
Minister for Tourism, NajibBalala, says his ministry planned to spend
$50.83 million this fiscal year, which began in July, on measures to
foster growth in tourism.
Kenya has also
waived landing fees for charter flights to the coast, reduced park entry
fees for tourists and urged operators to modernise their facilities.
"If we are serious,
we need to review our promotion budget as well as new strategies on how
best we can do to attract more tourists," says Congema Tours and
Safaris CEO, Constantine Malembela.
Standing as the
biggest country among the other four partner member states of the East
African Community (EAC), Tanzania has since the past 22 years, devoted
to develop tourism aiming to become a number one tourist destination in
Africa.
Covering a
geographical area of 945,000 kilometers, Tanzania has set out 28 percent
of the country's land for nature and wildlife.
Through serious
marketing campaigns across the world under the coordination and
supervision of the Tanzania Tourist Board (TTB), this country had so
far, achieved a milestone development in its goal to become a number one
safari destination in Africa in terms of quality tourism, arrivals,
tourist products and the quality of services offered to visitors.
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