One million tourists expected by 2012

In your words, what is the mission of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Tourism? 

We are striving to conserve and regulate the utilization of cultural and natural resources and develop low-volume, high-yield tourism for the benefit of present and future generations.

The tourism sector has grown nearly tenfold in the last decade, recently reaching a record 770,376 visitors. What are your targets now? 

Our efforts on promoting tourism have certainly paid off. By 2012, we expect one million visitors; but our focus is not only on the numbers; we want high quality tourists who respect nature and conservation. We link conservation and tourism to each other.

We will continue marketing Tanzania, however. The attractions we have are far better than those of other neighboring countries but they should be better known. We want to promote these attractions around the world, as well as promote our people. Our people are very friendly, and we are proud of this asset. 

What specific places and types of tourism would you like to promote?

So far the focus has just been on the north, because we have the Serengeti, Ngorongoro and Mt. Kilimanjaro and Lake Manyara there. But we also have marvelous national parks in the south and a variety of animals and natural beauties that have not been destroyed or exploited. We want people to discover the southern circuit; we have Selous, Ruaha, Gombe, Mikumi and other beautiful parks there.

In addition, we have other attractions, such as culture and historical heritage. We also have eco-tourism areas, such as the Eastern Arc Mountains. Beach tourism should be developed too, especially since we have beautiful places like Zanzibar or Mafia. We take advantage of conference tourism too – in May 2010 we held the World Economic Forum, which was a huge attraction.

How would you like to see more private sector involvement? 

Developing and promoting tourism is not a one-man show, it requires concerted efforts with other sectors. In this regard, we work closely with the private sector whose role is to put up accommodation facilities for tourists.

Hilton, for example, is a major investor here. Good performance of the Hilton here will be a sign for other hotel names, and they will follow suit. Tourism is linked to investment, so I am happy that Hilton opened Doubletree branches here, and I am looking forward to having more investors in Tanzania.

We also collaborate with the infrastructure, water, energy sectors and the aviation authority to see to it that tourist attractions are accessible.

There are great investment opportunities available here. We have more tourist attractions than just Kilimanjaro, Serengeti and Zanzibar. We have friendly people here, a great culture, safety and security and lots of other good things to offer. I would like to welcome more and more tourists and investors to come to Tanzania.