{EAST Africa is a tourist hotspot attracting over four million tourists each year. With its multiplier effects, the sector has been a springboard for socio-economic development in the region.}
EAC member states have earned substantial amount of foreign exchange from tourist activities which make an important source of tax revenues to our governments.
For example, in 2011, the tourist sector accounted for 17 per cent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in Tanzania; 5.7 per cent of the GDP in Kenya; 4.0 per cent of the GDP in Uganda; 3.3 per cent of the GDP in Rwanda and 3.6 per cent of the Burundian GDP, according to official data.
The sector also makes significant contribution to growth, job opportunities and hence the incomes to the people in the region.
In Tanzania, tourism is among the fastest growing sectors and a key driver to economic growth and development. Since 2013, the sector has become the largest foreign exchange earner after overtaking gold.
In 2013, for instance, a total of 1,135,884 tourists visited Tanzania, bringing earnings from the sector to an historical high of 1.8 billion US dollars.
However, despite the high potential for growth of the sector, there are new distasteful developments, which may have negative impacts on the growth prospects of the tourism industry, regional trade and the relations between the two countries.
It has been reported that Kenya has slapped a ban on Tanzania tourist vehicles from accessing the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA).
It is not yet understood if the ban is in retaliation to the decision by the Tanzania’s government to close the Bolongoja border between its Serengeti National Park and Maasai Mara Game Reserve of Kenya in mid-1970s as many people would like to believe.
While the Minister for Natural Resources and Tourism, Mr Lazaro Nyalandu will this week lead a government team to Kenya to discuss the problem, we would like to call on the authorities in the two governments to address the problem with its due attention.
We do not see the logic of misinterpreting the 1985 bilateral agreement whose provisions state clearly on where tourists vehicles from each country can drop or pick up visitors. Let us cooperate in the spirit of regional integration instead of engaging in unnecessary, unproductive and reckless bickering.
{{Tanzania Daily News}}
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