SUBSTANTIAL investments are needed to enhance the contribution of the tourism sector to the economy and for improved living standards of the people.
Tourism industry is the vehicle for economic development and employment creation. The sector is currently the top foreign exchange earner after overtaking gold exports which suffered global price decline and reduced output. 

According to Bank of Tanzania (BoT) latest monthly economic review, earnings from tourism reached 1.972 billion US dollars in the year between July 2013 and June 2014 up from 1.757 billion US dollars from the previous period. Gold exports earnings from the same period were calculated at about 1.6 billion US dollars.
Speaking to students shortly before commencing a tour to Selous Game Reserve last week, the Minister of Tourism and Natural Resources, Mr Lazaro Nyalandu said there were abundant opportunities in the tourism sector that called for more investments particularly from the private sector.

The base for future development of tourism as a vehicle for economic development, employment creation is now on the hands of the private sector, he said.
"Tourists are prepared to spend more money in one destination than they would if they visited another, as long as they feel they are getting value for money. It is not true that a destination that is expensive will not thrive," he said.
Mr Nyalandu cited the southern part of the country as the destination that offers plenty of opportunities for investors, particularly domestic, like building hotels and campsites and other cultural goods which could earn substantial incomes.

Tourist experience is not measured alone on the beach or wildlife product, rather it is the whole continuum that starts when the tourist first arrives in the country until the moment they leave.
And it extends beyond this all the way back to their place of origin including flight connections and schedules are an important part of the travel experience too.

"I invite investors to take advantage of the abundant opportunities in the southern part of the country, where the TAZARA Railway cut across to invest in hotels and lodges as well as other 2001, sorts of infrastructures to host the increasing number of tourists in the country," he said.
Statistics from the Tanzania Tourism Board (TTB) shows that in 2012, a target of one million tourists was reached with expectations of hitting 1.5 million mark in 2015. All these call for increased investments in the tourism infrastructures to cater for the increased demand.
In 2013 tourists who came to the country for recreational reasons were 890,000 and of those 65,922 came for business tourism and the number has been increasing every year.

"Where the service industry is strong, it signifies a vibrant economic growth of the country," he said, calling for the improved services in the hotel sector in order to meet the international standards.
Commenting on the TAZARA railway that crosses the southern part of the country, Mr Nyalandu said the railway offers huge potential in promoting tourism industry in the country.
Thousands of tourists are among the millions of passengers ferried by the 1860 kilometres TAZARA rail line from Dar es Salaam to New Kapirimposhi in Zambia. It crosses in some of the most unique and spectacular tourist sites. Last year, the country registered a 1.73 per cent increase of tourist arrivals to 1,095,884 from 1,077,058 in 2012.

During the period, foreign exchange earnings from industry climbed to 1.88 billion US dollars up from 1.7 billion US dollars in the preceding year.
The Selous Game Reserve Manager, Mr Benson Kibonde, urged students who toured the game reserve to cultivate the 'love for tourist attractions' as a way forward to become real investors and promoters of tourism investments.

The Chinese Ambassador to Tanzania, Dr Lu Youqing said at the event that apart from promoting economic growth, TAZARA was an important symbol for improving conservation in the country's largest wildlife reserves where it crosses.
The railway line starts from Dar es Salaam through Kazimzumbwi forest, one of the oldest forest in the world and the savannah wooded plain, where the major southern national parks of Mikumi, Udzungwa and Selous Game Reserve are located.
From there, TAZARA crosses the Great Ruaha River, towards Kilombero Flood Plains. Then it passes through tunnels under Udzungwa Mountain ranges and adjoining Kipengere Ranges to Makambako Plateau.

From Makambako the train runs on the foot of Kipengere Ranges and at the edge of Rift Valley to Mbeya. From Mbeya the train passes though smaller train stations of Mbalizi, Songwe, the Uporoto Ranges of Shikula, Mlowo, Vwawa before it arrives at Tunduma.
TAZARA Acting Managing Director Ronald Phiri said the railway not only eases mobility for some of the most disadvantaged rural communities in Tanzania and Zambia, but also provides a public railway service that is very predictable, reliable, safe and convenient.
Therefore, greater public-private sector cooperation and coordination is required in order to plan, promote, market and regulate the tourism industry in a manner that will ultimately prove to be sustainable and successful.

Tanzania is widely recognised to have unparalleled tourism potential both in terms of abundance and variety of its attractions.
The country is best known as the "Land of Kilimanjaro, Zanzibar and The Serengeti, to describe it as the home to Africa's highest mountain and the tallest freestanding mountain in the world; Ngorongoro Crater - the largest unbroken caldera in the world which is renowned for its abundance and variety of species of wildlife and The Serengeti, where the largest animal migration in the world takes place.

Source Ukarimu Tz blog