The number of tourists visiting the country is expected to double to 2 million by 2017, according to the Tanzania Tourist Board (TTB).
“We expect to reach 2 million tourist arrivals by 2017,” Reuters news agency quoted TTB acting managing director Devota Mdachi as saying at the weekend.
“With more international airlines flying into Tanzania … improved infrastructure, increased tourism investments and marketing, we can reach that target,” she said.
Tourist arrivals broke the 1 million-barrier for the first time in 2012 when the number of foreign visitors surged 24 per cent. The number rose 1.7 per cent in 2013 to 1.095 million, bringing in $1.85 billion (Sh3.15 trillion). Most of the visitors came from Britain, Germany, the United States and Italy.
A surge in visitors to Tanzania in the past two years has chipped away at Kenya’s dominance and boosted Tanzania’s ambitions to become a regional tourist hub. The steep increase in the number of tourists poses a direct challenge to regional rival Kenya where militant attacks have scared away visitors in the last three years.
Tourist arrivals in Kenya slid last year to 1.5 million after an all-time high of 1.8 million in 2011. In the first quarter of 2014 the number of visitors dropped 4 per cent compared to 2013. A leading Kenyan hotel chain said the real figures were worse.
Frequent attacks by Somali militants have had a devastating effect on Kenya’s tourism industry, scaring away tourists, some of whom looked elsewhere for tropical beaches and wildlife safaris.
Some Western tourists have found that, due to their governments’ travel advisories about the security situation, their travel insurance does not cover them for the Kenyan coast.
Tanzania has experienced nothing like the level of deadly violence that has hit Kenya, which angered militants by sending troops to fight al Shabaab militants in Somalia.
NMG
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