TANZANIA: Ukrainian Tourists Head For Zanzibar

CHARTER flights from abroad, transporting tourists to Zanzibar, are expected to increase after Ukraine announced the launch of direct flights to the islands beginning tomorrow (Friday).

Officers from the Ministry of Tourism, and the ‘Zanzibar Commission for Tourism (ZCT)’ said at a press conference held here that the First charter flight with about 180 tourists on board, is expected to land on ‘Abeid Amani Karume International Airport (AAKIA).’

“This will be the first group of tourists from Ukraine. Therefore we have organised a special reception, which include traditional dances, to welcome the tourists expected to stay in Zanzibar for nine days,” Mr Issa Mlingoti- deputy Principal Secretary (PS) informed journalists.

He thanked the ‘Travelling Professional Group (TPG)’ of Ukraine, and the local company ‘Zanzibar Tours & Travellers (ZTT)’ for initiating the new charter flight, an addition to other direct flights from Italy and Germany.

Flanked by the ZCT executive director Mr Saleh Feruzi, ZCT Chairman Dr Ahmada Khatib, and ZCT Marketing director Dr Miraji Ussi, the PS said having tourists from emerging tourists market such as Ukraine and other Asian countries was the focus of the government.

“We have been recording an increase of tourists from Israel, China, Russia, India, and Poland. Let us (citizens) maintain peace and stability even when in political disputes. Tourists come to destinations where there is peace,” Mr Mligonti emphasized.

Mr Feruzi said, so far there is no link between the current political disputes and tourists arrivals as no cancellation has been recorded due to the ‘impasse.’ “There was a drop in arrivals last year (2015), but it was because of inaccurate data recording in the previous year (2014), mainly double entry,” he said.

He said ZCT recorded 181,301 tourists in 2013 followed by 311,881 in 2014 which was an error, and last year the number of tourists who visited Zanzibar was 294,245.

But also, Mr Feruz said, terror threats, in East African region and Ebola in West Africa might have caused tourists to cancel their flights to Zanzibar or Africa.