Dar es Salaam based prominent lawyer, Dr. Eve Hawa Sinare says she is
convinced the tourism industry in Tanzania is able to generate more
jobs quickly than any other sector because of its linkages to the rest
of the economy.
She says available data indicates that, tourism provides 400,000
direct jobs to Tanzanians and over one million other jobs indirectly.
In the past tourism has been proven to generate nearly one direct job
for every additional tourist, said Dr. Sinare, who has been
commissioned by the Hotel Association of Tanzania (HAT) to examine the
legal impacts of tourism licensing.
Her assertion can be vindicated by the tourism drive in the Arusha
region, where the sector is a major employer. According to Research
and Education for Democracy in Tanzania (REDET), tourism is very
critical to the economy of the Arusha region as a gateway to several
game parks. According to REDET’s website
(http://www.redet.udsm.ac.tz), tourism and wildlife account for about
20% of the Arusha region’s GDP. Some stakeholders in the tourism
sector in Arusha believe the sector is the mainstay of their economy
and has long surpassed agriculture.
The Ministry of Natural Resources and Tourism (MNRT) asserts that
tourism is rated as one of the fastest growing sectors in the country.
Stakeholders in the sector agree with economic analysts stating that
tourism can play a greater economic role than is happening at the
moment.
Unfortunately on the ground, the business environment has not been
able to generate more tourist arrivals, which would translate to more
jobs despite a number of reforms in the sector.
Data from the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), a United Nations
agency dealing with questions relating to tourism, notes out of the
total of over 49 million tourists to Africa in 2010, Tanzania’s share
was only 782,699. This is despite the country’s rank as number two
worldwide for its natural resources.
The country also is nowhere in the top ten in Africa according to
UNWTO’s World Tourism Barometer, where Morocco leads the pack with
9.29 million arrivals. It is followed by South Africa, with 8.07
million. Tunisia is 3rd with 6.95 million, Zimbabwe 4th with 2.24
million tourists.
At the global level Tanzania’s share is merely 0.08 % of 940 million
tourists recorded. This is despite having world-class attractions.
Just compare attractions in Turkey and Tanzania. Turkey ranks number
seven worldwide with 27 million arrivals in 2010, yet Tanzania has
just as much to offer.
Geographically a small country like the Netherlands gets 10 million
visitors annually. Tanzania’s official target of one million
arrivals limits the nation’s great potential. The government should
take the industry more seriously and start targeting a higher numbers
of arrivals.
To put the nation at the top within a few years in terms of arrivals,
which determines the economic impact, holistic improvements of the
business environment are necessary.
President Jakaya Kikwete recently appointed Mr. Khamis Kagasheki as
the new Minister for Natural Resources and Tourism and Mr. Lazaro
Nyalandu, as his deputy.
Ms Lidwien Appels commends the appointment saying the duo’s strong
backgrounds in business and conservation areas gives the tourism
industry a hope for the future. Mr. Nyalandu is a former Board member
of Tanzania National Parks (TANAPA)..
“It is of our utmost hope that the issues we have been advocating for,
will be heard and acted upon,” she said. HAT has been lobbying and
advocating for an improved business environment for hoteliers and the
tourism industry in general.
MNRT directly controls 15 key tourist wildlife parks including
Ngorongoro Conservation Area where the famous Ngorongoro Crater is
located, and Selous Game Reserve – the biggest and most natural
wildlife reserve in Africa. It also offers direction on how the
country’s 31 game reserves are run.
Ms Saumu Jumanne a lecturer at the Dar es Salaam University College of
Education (DUCE) says, if it is true that the tourism sector can offer
employment in big numbers if arrivals increase, then there is a need
to review the whole sector with a view to fast-tracking investments.
“For example, it should be prudent to simplify and streamline tourism
licensing so that all operators and prospective operators can easily
enter the business,” she said.
According to Ms Jumanne, in order to attract more investments in the
sector and bring in more arrivals, the authorities should offer
incentives in licensing to all players in the industry.
“There should be no discrimination—small and medium enterprises as
well as big businesses should equally be able to get tourism licences
at an affordable cost,” she said.
At the moment tourism operators are charged between 1000 – 5000 USD
annually by the Tanzania Tourism Licensing Board (TTLB) depending on
various factors including if the business is locally owned or foreign
owned, and the specific nature of the business.
According to MNRT’s website (mnrt.go.tz) in 2011 about 657
enterprises were listed as having a tourism licence. The 2012 list is
yet to be published.
Ms Saumu Jumanne also says that, the authorities must make clear the
benefits of a business getting a tourism licence. “After all this
licence is an extra requirement for the sector—the same business has
to pay for other numerous licenses. These are issues that should be
looked at anew,” she said.
She added that when looking for a policy document online in the
industry, you get outdated documents.
“For example, the Tourism Master Plan available online was published
in 2002. It is clearly outdated. By then Tanzania was getting only
half a million arrivals per annum. We know the government has put in
place the Tourism Master Plan of 2012 – 2016 but how many stakeholders
and academics have seen it? We don’t know how long it will take
before they post it online” she said.
Recent media reports indicate the documents need to be uploaded onto
the web to market the sector, to maintain an annual growth of eight
to ten %. For Ms Saumu Jumanne this is not ambitious enough. “This can
be the fastest growing sector if we put our house in order.”
End