TTB adds AFCON, Cultural tourism as major tourist attractions 

ARUSHA: THE Tanzania Tourist Board (TTB) has outlined various strategies to promote the country’s tourism attractions, including strengthening global and domestic tourism in efforts to achieve the National Development Vision 2050.

This was stated in Arusha by the Director General of TTB, Ephraim Mafuru, during a meeting of tourism stakeholders, which also included cultural tourism. The meeting aimed to ensure that the tourism sector continues to contribute significantly to the national economy.

Mafuru said the strategies focus on identifying and developing key strategic markets, as well as strengthening various regional tourism products, including wildlife tourism, sports tourism, culinary tourism, meetings and conferences, and cultural tourism. These efforts are expected to help increase the number of tourists visiting the country.

Additionally, tourism stakeholders highlighted new and effective strategies for developing the sector, including sports tourism, beekeeping tourism, religious tourism, and health tourism. They emphasized that tourism is not limited to visits to national parks alone, but is a broad sector that requires wider promotion, including cultural tourism.

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Speaking on international opportunities, Mafuru said Tanzania expects to receive a large number of visitors due to the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) tournament. He noted that some visitors have already begun arriving in the country, prompting TTB to prepare special promotional campaigns to market tourism attractions before, during, and after the tournament.

Meanwhile, officially opening the meeting, the Director of the Tourism Department from the Ministry of Natural Resources and Tourism, Dr Theresia Mugobi, said TTB has improved the strategies so that they can be officially implemented. She explained that stakeholder participation is intended to provide initial assessments and feedback prior to implementation.

She added that the strategies also aim to introduce new tourism products and strengthen the use of modern technology, including artificial intelligence (AI), in promoting tourism attractions in the country.

“The importance of these strategies is to guide and control the direction of tourism promotion to enable the sector to achieve broader national goals,” said Dr Mugobi.