THE National Museum of Tanzania (NMT) has become the leading attraction for domestic tourists in the first quarter of 2023 thanks to Covid-19 funds that supported improvements in galleries, exhibitions and other cultural heritage.
The MNT got 2.45bn/- from Covid-19 funds provided by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and African Development Bank to the government to support sectors that suffered heavily from Covid-19 pandemic.
Tourism statistics issued by the Ministry of Natural Resources and Tourism recently shows the number of local tourists increased to 219,627, up from 134,603 in the similar quarter last year. The number is equivalent to 42.7 per cent of all domestic tourists in the first quarter of 2023.
The MNT Head Public Relations and Marketing Officer, Joyce Mkinga told the ‘Daily News’ that the increasing number of domestic tourists is attributed to various reasons, including improvement of exhibitions in the museums through Covid-19 funding, promotion campaign through various media as well as the government’s effort to promote tourism attractions within and outside the country, including the Royal Tour documentary.
“NMT attracted many tourists because of improvements in exhibitions as well as support from the government through the Royal Tour documentary which aroused interests of Tanzanians to visit the museum,” she said.
Ms Mkinga said among the improvements done to the museum were building of the traditional houses which are fitted with firefighting equipment as well as decoration of Tanzania map with greater features in it like Lake Victoria and Indian Ocean.
She said NMT has managed to provide digital and mobile exhibition equipment which are used in the studies in different schools around the country.
She noted through the report NMT is still planning to improve the exhibitions and strengthen the publicity of the museum so that many Tanzanians may benefit.
She said that the government has continued to promote the country’s tourist attractions as well as improve infrastructure to ensure that the number of tourists reaches five million come 2025.
“The government continues to ensure that it markets all attractions but also improves infrastructure such as roads, digital financial services in all tourist attraction sites and many other things to ensure we reach the goal of five million tourists in 2025,” said Mkinga.
Ms Mkinga added that the National Museum has led in domestic tourism through the National Museum facilities including the Museum and the House of Culture, the Museum Village, the Arusha Declaration, the Creature Education Museum, the Water Museum, Museums of Mwalimu Julius Nyerere and Dr Rashid Kawawa and the Old Town of Mikindani.
Last year, the tourism sector received a big boost from President Samia Suluhu Hassan following her decision to feature in the Tanzania Royal Tour documentary.
This was the first time in Tanzania’s history the Head of State played such a role in a film, as part of efforts to revive the tourism industry that was adversely affected by the Covid-19 pandemic.
