TANZANIA: Obama Visit To Kenya A Blessing To Tanzania Tourism

Just hours before the American President Barack Obama’s visit to Kenya, there was reported a slight increase of tourists booked to Tanzania’s northern tourist circuit.

Reports from the northern tourist city of Arusha said the number of visitors to the city had slightly increased since Wednesday, two days before Obama’s visit to neighboring Kenya.

Without revealing the number of visitors who booked to their hotels and lodges, a section of hotel managers had expressed their happy hours of seeing their accommodation facilities fully booked, thanks to Obama’s visit to Kenya.

Though no exact figures could be made available immediately from the Tanzania National Parks and the Ngorongoro Conservation Area Authority to show the exact number of park entries, a section of tour operators told eTN that, they had received new bookings from their counterparts in the Kenyan capital city of Nairobi.

Reports further said the number of private vehicles which entered Tanzania from Kenya had as well slightly increased, while tourists once booked to Nairobi hotels had shifted to Arusha city. The city and its neighboring wildlife parks are paradise for local Kenyan tourists.

Several families from Kenya had traveled to Arusha and Kilimanjaro, coming in for a weekend vacation, and also to pave the way for President Obama’s busy schedule in Nairobi, sources told eTN.

Arusha is located about 300 kilometers south of the Kenyan capital and shares tourist visits with Kenya. Hotels in Nairobi had enjoying brisk business during Obama’s previous historic visit.

Nairobi Serena Hotel General Manager Daniel Kang’u was reported as saying President Obama’s visit is a major boost to Kenyan tourism. Following news of the US president’s forthcoming tour, Mr. Kang’u told the Kenyan media that his hotel has been packed to capacity since Monday this week.

He said 70 percent of the hotel’s guests are business people while the rest are leisure visitors. The Jacaranda Hotels Chief Executive Officer, Killian Lugwe, said President Obama’s visit is a huge boost to both tourism and investment in Nairobi. He said the Jacaranda Hotel in Nairobi is fully booked from this Friday to next Tuesday.

The Obama fever had as well gripped a section of residents in Tanzania’s capital city of Dar es Salaam where he landed exactly two years ago. Nairobi is located some 921 kilometers (572 miles) from Dar es Salaam.

President Obama lands in Nairobi this Friday and is expected to open the Global Entrepreneurship Summit on Saturday.

With excitement and expectations to see a tourism boom in Africa, tourist stakeholders are looking at the official tour of the continent by US President Barack Obama as a kick-start to tap the rich American tourist market through publicity of his visit.

Once regarded as the continent “doomed with diseases, wars, and poverty” by most Americans, Africa is now a target continent for Americans in key areas of investment and holidays, according to sources from the US Department of Commerce.

Rich with wildlife, natural tourist attractions, diversified cultures, and favorable weather conditions for human health, Africa is growing to be the number one US investment destination, taking advantage of rich resources including big reserves of minerals, natural gas, oil in trillions of cubic meters, and wildlife, just to mention a few.

Kenya and Tanzania are among key African nations which Obama selected to tour before the end of his last two years in the White House.

The United States is a number two tourist source market which Tanzania is currently targeting. About 70,000 American tourists had visited Tanzania last year, counted as high-spending holidaymakers.