Tourism

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Develop Tourism to Curb National Woes

Posted: Friday June 20, 2008 4:51 PM BT

Experts are projecting that global tourism will by 2020 be raking in $1 trillion, but they see Africa, despite its vast rich attractions, getting only a minute fraction of that. African countries will be hardly exploiting the opportunity to boost their foreign exchange earnings and economies from the lucrative business.

Tanzania, like many other African countries, has what it takes to meaningfully benefit from the world travel and hospitality trade. But from the way things are going, the chances of reaping from the Sh1,200 trillion revenue are quite limited.

That amount, which is about 166 times our government budget for 2008/09, will be earned from about 1.6 billion global trotters in the next 12 years How Tanzania will fare in the tourism dollars league in 2020, very few people, including our tourism managers, can tell. Available statistics show that the country will host only a million visitors by 2010, with revenue from the sector reaching $1 billion this year.

The experts claim that under the current organisation and management of tourism resources, it will take Africa between 50 and 100 years to realise its full potential, which they put at $100 billion by 2020. The continent's failure to immensely benefit from tourism is explained by several factors, including governments subjecting the industry to restrictive policies and strict regulations.

This does not augur well for its growth and development. A more liberal approach in management could pay handsome dividends to countries like ours, which have many comparative advantages and competitive edges regionally and internationally.

There are very few Ngorongoro craters in the world, no spectacular Serengeti's elsewhere, and Mt Kilimanjaro, to name but a few of the unique tourist attractions. Tourism has the potential to create jobs and curb poverty and that is what we should be doing.

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