Tanzania records 24 per cent increase in tourist arrivals

KILIMANJARO: THE number of tourists who visited the country from January to November 2023 has increased to 1.8 million from 1.4 million tourists who visited the country in the same period in 2022.

The Minister for Natural Resources and Tourism, Ms Angellah Kairuki said recently while launching the Same District Tourism festival that took place in the Same District, Kilimanjaro region that 2023 counted a 24 per cent increase of tourists in the country.

“This increase is a continuation of what has been happening in recent years; in 2023, tourist arrivals increased by 24.3 per cent to a record 1,808,205 from 1,454,920 tourists in 2022; in 2021 the number was 922,692 while in 2020 we received 616,491,” she added.

She said the increased number of tourists in the country is vivid evidence of the improved infrastructure and efforts by the government and other stakeholders in improving the tourism sector.

She added that the world is now recovering from the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic that affected many countries’ economies including Tanzania.

The minister urged tourism stakeholders in the country to come up with new methods of promoting the tourist attractions found in the country, especially those that are not found anywhere else in the world other than Tanzania.

“Let’s think of coming up with a method let’s say, of making the carvings of the tourist-related attractions that are only available here in the country which will be distributed abroad; by doing this, the replicas of those attractions will motivate the tourists to visit the country,” she added.

She mentioned the attractions as including a wonderful South Pare white-eyed bird, which is found in the Chome Natural Forest Reserve.

“This breed cannot be found anywhere else except in Same at the Chome forest; if a special campaign can be launched concerning this creature it will be one of the attractions that will bring many tourists to the country, especially those who deal with birds,” she noted.

She commended Same District leadership under Kasilda Mgeni for coming up with the idea of organising a tourism festival in the district. She said the move will help to promote tourist attractions in the area.

“This is the way to go, I am delighted by your efforts to promote tourism, this is in line with the efforts by President Samia Suluhu Hassan to improve the sector so that it could contribute more to the national coffers. On his part, Mr James Nshare from the Tanzania Forests Reserves Agency (TFS) said that the Chome forest reserve and the Shengena are some of the various attractions that have been attracting tourists to the district.

“They include the South Pare white-eyed bird we discovered 10 years ago, through various commitments by our (TFS) researchers,” he said.

He said TFS continues with efforts to promote tourist attractions found in different parts.

“These efforts have started to pay off and this can be witnessed by the increasing number of tourists who visited the tourist attractions in Same; the number raised to more than 2,500 compared to less than 1,000 some years back,” he added.

Earlier, the Same District Commissioner (DC) Ms Kasilda Mgeni, said that the festival was part of the district programmes meant to promote the tourism sector in the district by raising awareness of the tourist attractions as well as identifying new ones within the district and promote them for the improvements of the district’s economic situation as well as creating new job opportunities.

“The festival also aimed at providing education on natural resources preservation, so that they can continue to contribute to the economic well-being of the District and that of its people,” she said.