In Summary
Tourist businesses as a result of bad
regulation or overregulation are not able to improve their potential. It
could also be slowing down investment in the sector.
Come next January, the international tourism
marketing strategy for Tanzania will be one year old. When Natural
Resources and Tourism minister Khamis Kagasheki launched the drive last
year, it was culmination of what was taunted as a successful public
private partnership (PPP) drive.
How is the implementation going on? It seems it
has been a silent affair with no public announcements. I have seen the
new advertisements by Tanzania Tourism Board (TTB) that espouses the
spirit of the strategy: The ad indicates that “Tanzania is one of the
most beautiful countries in the world…Unforgettable Tanzania.”
Maybe it is too early to judge the campaign as the
tourist arrivals for 2013 will tell it. According to Tanzania
Investment Centre (TIC) mining and tourism are the leading recipients of
foreign investment flow and the main “growth sectors” of the economy in
the country.
Tourism stakeholders believe that their sector
offers the best opportunities in job creation and has multiplier effects
on the national economy. By multiplier effects it means it creates jobs
in the tertiary sector, but also encourages growth in the primary and
secondary sectors. The concept of multiplier can be described as the
number of times money spent by a tourist circulates through a country’s
economy.
That is debatable but the fact that we have 12
national parks, 17 game reserves, 50 game-controlled areas, a
conservation area, two marine parks and two marine reserves means the
potential for the industry is immense. This would mean that what
Tanzania is earning from tourism could only be a drop in the ocean.
After reading the five-year strategy on 3 February 2013, I wrote in this
very column that it had all the ingredients of taking destination
Tanzania to the next level. I think the goal should be to make Tanzania
number one African tourist destination. With hard work, and a lot of
creativity, it is achievable.
There are African tourist destinations that have
been beating us to the game such as South Africa and Kenya, but we have
much more to offer in terms of natural resources. What we only need to
up is the rate of infrastructure development and marketing.
At the same time there are regulations, policies
and laws that need to be revised to go hand in hand with the needs of
today’s tourism. Is the Tourism Act and Regulations conducive for
envisioned growth levels? Over the years tourism industry related
regulations have been taking effect without being subjected to the
principles of good regulation developed by Better Regulation Unit under
Prime Minister’s Office in coordination with relevant Tourism Industry
Trade Associations.
Tourist businesses as a result of bad regulation
or overregulation are not able to improve their potential. It could also
be slowing down investment in the sector.
Some of the issues that need to be addressed are
like the introduction of a one-stop-shop for paying fees, levies and
taxes for the sector.
Why is it so hard for the government to do it?
This has been a long time cry for tourism stakeholders, which if
implemented can go a long way in improving the business environment and
thus attract more investment.
Multiple authorities- village, district,
municipal, regional and national - all in one way or another, collect
levies from the industry. This makes it hard for players to comply and
needs to be addressed urgently.
