TANZANIA: National Tourism Television Channel To Telecast Very Soon

A new tourism television channel dedicated exclusively for the country's attractions will hit the sky soon at the national broadcasting television.

This follows the signing of an agreement between the Tanzania Broadcasting Corporation (TBC), the Tanzania National Parks (TANAPA), Ngorongoro Conservation Area Authority (NCAA) and the Tanzania Tourist Board (TTB) in Dodoma on Wednesday.

The TBC Director General, Dr Ayub Rioba said at the signing ceremony that, the channel would run twenty four hours a day with a focus on the national parks, beaches, archeological sites, marine parks, game reserves, conservation, among others.

I am very delighted for this milestone achievement giving TBC an opportunity to play its role as a national public broadcaster in the promotion of the tourism sector, he said.

TBC as a national public broadcaster has a role not just to inform but to help the country promote the tourism sector to boost the foreign currency reserves.

The introduction of the new tourism channel marks the first time in the country's history for a local television station to reach out to diversified international markets.

The agreement also comes in the wake of President John Magufuli's directive when he visited TBC mid last month that the national public broadcaster should introduce a tourism channel.

Under the agreement, TANAPA, NCAA and TTB will finance the project aimed at promoting the local touristic attractions across the country and to the outside world.

Currently, tourism is the country's forex earner, generating over 2.1 billion US dollars (about 5tr/-) annually.

TBC also runs TBC 2 Television channel and radio stations, namely TBC Taifa, TBC FM and TBC International. It is the fastest growing brand, according to the recent Geopoll study.

On her part, the TTB Managing Director, Ms Devotha Mdachi said that the partnership marks a new era in the promotion of the country's tourism sector.

This is a proof that our efforts of promoting tourism are winning support from all other players in the public and private sector, she said.

On his part, TANAPA Director General, Mr Allan Kijazi said his institution was excited about the partnership with TBC.

TBC has shown that we can use our own media to project the tourism attractions not only to Tanzanians but to the whole world, Mr Kijazi said.

TANZANIA: Paramilitary To Combat Poaching

In a bid to combat poaching in the country, the Ministry of Natural Resources and Tourism has announced the establishment of a paramilitary force system that will directly protect animals from being attacked and killed by poachers.

The ministry's Permanent Secretary (PS), Major Gen. Gaudence Milanzi, said on Thursday evening that the government is prepared to stop poaching and that the new strategy is set to end the problem once and for all.

Major Gen. Milanzi was speaking on his ministry's performance in a period of one year during an interview on a local TV station. He said members of the paramilitary unit will receive tough military training and will be equipped with modern weapons to face and fight poachers.

"We are going to establish a special unit that will be able to face poachers, these will be following military system and they will be equipped with modern weapons," he said. According to the PS, the new unit is expected to directly face poachers on the ground.

"We are looking forward to improving officials' working environment including their benefits, this will also improve their performance," he said.

However, the PS said so far the situation is improving and a number of poachers have been arrested. He said the tourism sector contributes 17.5 per cent to the GDP and thus the government is forced to apply all means to protect the sector.

"This is one of the very important sectors for the country's economic growth, we are therefore supposed to do everything in our powers to protect the sector so that it could continue attracting more tourists in the country," he said.

He said the number of elephants is increasing in some areas except in Selous game reserve. However, he said his office is making sure the number is not going down anymore. "We had a serious problem in Selous game reserve, the number of elephants dropped from 100,000 to around 40,000.

At the moment we have managed to control the situation," he noted.

He said his office is continuing to resolve some of challenges, which include invasion of pastoralists to the reserved areas and grazing animals in the hunting blocks. "I am asking my fellow Tanzanians to understand what we are doing, politicians must stop politicising issues related to the protection of our game reserves by shielding some pastoralists who invade reserved areas," he noted.

On seized tusks, the PS said the government neither plans to sell them nor destroy them. On tourism, Major Gen. Milanzi said his office is doing everything in its power to promote tourism in the country. He said the ministry is also focusing at promoting beach, conference and culture tourism.

"We are now venturing on the other side in order to attract more tourists, we are now promoting our beaches, culture as well as conference tourism, our aim is to increase the number of tourists who come to our country from 1.1 million to a bigger number," he said.

He added that his office is also promoting other parts of the country so that tourists could visit them. So far 80 per cent of tourists visit Northern regions of Tanzania. The ministry is also preparing special advertisement that will be aired on both international and local media outlets. Major Gen. Milanzi said CNN and BBC are among international TV stations that air Tanzania tourism adverts.

Recently, Tanzania aired tourism adverts in London during the World Tourism Forum (WTF). He added that those who advertise that Mt Kilimanjaro belongs to them instead of telling the truth that it is in Tanzania will not affect tourism business in the country anymore, since the ministry has already designed an advert that clearly states why tourists must come to Tanzania to climb Mt Kilimanjaro.

"Our advert tells that you can see Mt Kilimanjaro from any angle, but you can only climb Mt Kilimanjaro from its home, which is Tanzania," he noted. On the revival of Air Tanzania Company Limited (ATCL), the PS said the company is expected to promote tourism in the country by flying tourists to various destinations across the country. He said there will be advertisement and various articles will be published in newsletters and magazines that are found onboard ATCL's bombardier planes.

On Value-Added Tax (VAT) on tourism, Major Gen. Milanzi said so far there is no negative impact from the government decisions.

He said the Tanzania National Parks (Tanapa) statistics and Ngorongoro Conservation Area Authority (NCAA) show that the number of tourists has been increasing.

TANZANIA: Destination Tanzania More Expensive Because Of 18% VAT To Tourists

When tourism stakeholders met with former President Jakaya Kikwete in the beginning of last year, they agreed to identify challenges facing the sector and put it in the lab of Big Results Now (BRN) to analyse and ultimately improve the business environment.

Mr Kikwete was the chairman of the Tanzania National Business Council (TNBC).

A committee was formed by the industry players from both public and private sectors and compiled a report with seven pillars of challenges facing tourism - ranging from threat to wildlife, poaching, and dynamite fishing to multiple taxes.

The report was ready at the time democratic choices had put a new government and that way, Mr Kikwete could not receive the report he promised to work on to address the challenges.

When President John Magufuli met representatives of the business community last December, the stakeholders gave him the report, with challenges they wanted addressed, they say.

According to them, they also presented the same report to the minister for Natural Resources and Tourism, Prof Jumanne Maghembe, and he received the presentation well.

When June 8, 2016 came, nothing had been done to address any of neither the identified challenges nor put tourism in the lab of BRN - the Malaysian model of development initiative adopted in the country which aims at adopting new methods of working under specified timeframe for delivery of the step-change required.

On top of that, a new challenge emerged when Finance and Planning minister Philip Mpango announced the introduction of the 18 per cent Value-Added Tax (VAT) on tourism services.

Despite all efforts to have the new tax removed, they hit a snag as Parliament endorsed both the Budget and the Finance Bill unchanged in the particular section.

That means, destination Tanzania is becoming more expensive by increasing its cost by 18 per cent to tourists when they enter national parks, game drive and marine cruising among others.

"VAT is not bad but the issue is its timing. We had identified challenges which the government has not yet worked on them and now it comes with the new problem. The sector needs support. What can VAT do for tourism?" says the Tanzania Confederation of Tourism (TCT) executive secretary, Mr Richard Rugimbana.

As the new tax emerges, the budget for the Tanzania Tourism Board (TTB) was still low compared to other competitors.

Kenya's marketing budget is about Sh90 billion but that of Tanzania is about Sh5 billion and has been up and down. Yet the countries are seeking visitors from almost the same markets.

Sources from the industry say that TTB will not even participate in the London-based World Travel Marketing (WTM) in November - a global annual event for the travel industry to meet industry professionals and conduct business deals.

Kenya introduced VAT on tourism in 2013 but its implementation, plus security challenges brought about by the terrorist attacks, affected the sector so much that the country scrapped it effective this July.

While the tourism players were contemplating on how to go about the imposed VAT on the sector, the Ngorongoro Conservation Area Authority (NCAA) announced another increment in rates effective July 1, 2016.

The new rates apply to entry fees; motor vehicle permits; annual fee for commercial vehicles; camping fees; aircraft landing fee; crater service fee among others.

That happened ahead of Britain voting to leave the European Union; a move that affected the performance of the sterling pound against the US dollar. Decelerating pound against the US dollar makes it more expensive for Britons to travel including to Tanzania as many of the charges to foreigners are pegged in the dollar.

Tourism is Tanzania's leading foreign exchange earner which generated $2.2 billion in 2015 and the income has been increasing year-after-year.

It employs about 500,000 people although the World Bank said most of the jobs to Tanzanians especially those from communities around tourist sites are low-end.

However, the industry players are now skeptical about the future of Tanzania tourism as it would be affected by abrupt changes and lack of consistent and unpredictable policies. "I think the future of tourism will remain challenged and the government will stand to lose more, not only because of VAT but also due to its abrupt changes on sensitive sectors like tourism," says the chief executive officer of Tanzania Association of Tour Operators (Tato).

Most companies will either refund clients or absorb the cost themselves; which means because of unpredictability, the international travel agents will not be able to print their two-year brochures including destination Tanzania in their 'sales' because they can't tell which Budget the changes will happen in between," he says.

Right now TTB has clearly expressed that they are not going for market in World Travel Market 2016, and this is another blow.

Why all these last-minute changes? Not only tour operators in Tanzania but also we operators abroad publish the rates up to 18 months in advance -- so should we continue losing money on bookings or should we shred all marketing materials we printed for expensive money with lower rates in it?

If it gets hard or impossible to make long-term-planning and calculations we need to focus on other more reliable countries," posted Mr David Heidler, Denmark-based tour operator on facebook as he commented on Mr Akko's post.

The impact of the VAT is not only to destination Tanzania but also to the region which seeks to market East Africa as a single destination.

Ms Carmen Nibigira, coordinator of the Nairobi-based East African Tourism Platform (EATP), says regional tourism will be not only about products but also competitiveness and VAT is a huge factor when one wants to measure value for money.

The bottom line is EAC should have one harmonized vat system on tourism services. We cannot talk about harmonisation of our laws and regional integration when we have disparities in our law system and maturity of our product and services, she says.

If we are all serious about promoting East Africa as a competitive destination, policy makers need to understand that as a region our tax regimes need to look at the trends.

When the product and the service industry is being developed and in most cases needing some incentives - imposing taxes is not the best approach," she adds.

Tanzania tour operators now are seeking intervention from the head of state despite the fact that Prof Maghembe has insisted that the new tax is here to stay.

TANZANIA: Ngorongoro Conservation Area Authority

The jewel in Ngorongoro's crown is a deep, volcanic crater, the largest un flooded and unbroken caldera in the world. About 20kms across, 600 meters deep and 300 sq kms in area, the Ngorongoro Crater is a breathtaking natural wonder.

The Ngorongoro Crater is one of Africa’s most famous sites and is said to have the highest density of wildlife in Africa. Sometimes described as an ‘eighth wonder of the world’, the Crater has achieved world renown, attracting an ever-increasing number of visitors each year. You are unlikely to escape other vehicles here, but you are guaranteed great wildlife viewing in a genuinely mind-blowing environment. There is nowhere else in Africa quite like Ngorongoro!

The Ngorongoro Crater is the world’s largest intact volcanic caldera. Forming a spectacular bowl of about 265 square kilometres, with sides up to 600 metres deep; it is home to approximately 30,000 animals at any one time. The Crater rim is over 2,200 metres high and experiences its own climate. From this high vantage point it is possible to make out the tiny shapes of animals making their way around the crater floor far below. Swathes of cloud hang around the rocky rim most days of the year and it’s one of the few places in Tanzania where it can get chilly at night.

The crater floor consists of a number of different habitats that include grassland, swamps, forests and Lake Makat (Maasai for ‘salt’) - a central soda lake filled by the Munge River. All these various environments attract wildlife to drink, wallow, graze, hide or climb. Although animals are free to move in and out of this contained environment, the rich volcanic soil, lush forests and spring source lakes on the crater floor (combined with fairly steep crater sides) tend to incline both grazers and predators to remain throughout the year.

Ngorongoro Crater Wildlife Highlights
Ngorongoro Crater is one of the most likely areas in Tanzania to see the endangered Black Rhino, as a small population is thriving in this idyllic and protected environment. It is currently one of the few areas where they continue to breed in the wild. Your chances of encountering leopard here are also good, and fabulous black-maned lions. Many flamingos are also attracted to the soda waters of Lake Magadi.

Ngorongoro Crater: Maasai village trips
Part of the reason behind the Ngorongoro Conservation Area has been to preserve the environment for the Maasai people who were diverted from the Serengeti Plains. Essentially nomadic people, they build temporary villages in circular homesteads called bomas. There are possibilities to visit a couple of these now, which have been opened up for tourists to explore. Here you can see how the huts are built in a strict pattern of order according to the chronological order of the wives, and experience what it must be like to rely on warmth and energy from a fire burning at the heart of a cattle dung dwelling with no chimney. These proud cattle herding people have a great history as warriors, and even though they are no longer allowed to build villages inside, they continue to herd their cattle into the crater to graze and drink, regardless of the predators nearby.

TANZANIA: KILIFAIR Exhibition PreparationsUnderway

THE Kilimanjaro Tourism and Industry Fair organization plans to hold an international trade fair to be held at Ushirika Sports Stadium here.

Co-directors of the organization, famously referred to as KILIFAIR, Mr Tom Kunkler and Dominic Shoo said here that more than 250 exhibitors from more than 25 countries are expected to participate.

So far more than 154 exhibitors from Tanzania, Kenya, Rwanda, Uganda, Zanzibar, India, Zimbabwe and Ethiopia have registered for the fair to take place in early June.

The fair will include three days of networking and workshops for tourism industry, while there will feature also African fashion, arts and crafts.

Mr Kunkler said the fair that started last year at a different place here, is aimed at promoting tourism, industry and trade under the motto ‘Boosting Tanzania Tourism’.

“The fair is representing and promoting the Kilimanjaro Region and the Tanzania National Parks (Tanapa), to East Africa and to the rest of the world.

“Next to local and international tourism related companies, sponsors and several Tanzania organizations such as the Tanzania Tourist Board (TTB),Tanzania National Parks (TANAPA), Ngorongoro Conservation Area Authority (NCAA), have already signed in for 2016,” said the directors in their communiqué.

Mr Shoo said they are proud to that exhibitors and pre-registered buyers from over 25 countries already have affirmed participation.

“KILIFAIR 2015, motivated 168 exhibitors, 185 visiting East African based on tour companies and more than 3,000 individual visitors participated.

No doubt that 2016 will break that record due to extended marketing campaigns in Tanzania, East Africa and at international trade fairs in Europe,” he said.

He noted that the KILIFAIR team attended in Kampala, Uganda ‘The Pearl of Africa’ fair and was expected to be present at major fairs such as ‘SITE’ in Dar es Salaam, ‘Magical Kenya’, ‘WTM’ in London, ‘ITB’ in Germany and ‘INDABA’ in Durban, South Africa.

TANZANIA: More Wild Dog Packs Released Into Serengeti

A TOTAL of 17 new wild dogs have just been released in the Serengeti plains, bringing the number of the endangered carnivorous species in the country’s second largest National Park to nearly 325 and counting.

The Minister for Natural Resources and Tourism, Prof Jumanne Maghembe officially opened the gates of the sanctuary in which the wild dogs were being confined under special care to allow the ferocious animals to begin their free roaming in the 14,763 square kilometres making up the vast Serengeti plains.

That was the last in the series of six packs releases from the Serengeti Wild Dog Conservation Project aimed at replenishing the National Park with its own indigenous species of the endangered animals.

They were initially captured from Loliondo hills, where the dogs were constantly in conflicts with pastoralists. Wild dogs apparently love to tear goats and sheep apart for their meals and this has earned them a coveted top spot in the livestock keepers’ hate list.

Cases of poisoned or speared carnivores in areas like Loliondo Division of Ngorongoro and parts of Monduli District have been common.

“The dogs were going extinct from the early 90s,” pointed out the tourism minister, adding that since the species of African Wild Dogs were facing demise all over the world, it is upon Tanzania to ensure that the carnivores were protected.

Director General for Tanzania National Parks, Dr Allan Kijazi described the latest wild dog pack as gypsy have at one time travelled from Loliondo, through Maasai-Mara all the way to Tsavo before crossing back to Tanzania ending up in Korogwe, then making return trip to Loliondo.

Previously five other wild dog packs had been released from the Conservation Project and these included the ‘Kikwete Pack,’ ‘Vodacom Pack,’ ‘Serengeti Park,’ ‘Loliondo Pack,’ and Nyasiruri Pack all containing nearly 125 wild-dogs between them.

All packs have some wild dogs that are fitted with GPS devices that help conservators and researchers to track their movements.

But the entire Serengeti Eco-system which also encompasses the (former) Loliondo Game Controlled Area, Ngorongoro Conservation Area Authority (NCAA), Maswa Game Reserve and Kenya’s Maasai Mara is reported to have 27 packs of wild dogs with about 325 individuals in-between.

The latest (6th) Wild Dog pack, released from the project was named after Prof Markus Borneran an expert in Genetics and Evolutionary Biology from the University of Glasgow, who has been researching on the carnivores within the Serengeti eco-system.

The Tanzania Wildlife Research Institute (Tawiri) has been implementing the project with support from the State House, Frankfurt Zoological Society (FZS), Grumeti Fund (GF), Vodacom Foundation, The University of Glasgow, Tanzania National Parks (Tanapa), Tanzania Wildlife Authority, and the Ngorongoro Conservation Area Authority.

Emmanuel Masenga and Joseph Kaboya who have been working at the project in Serengeti revealed that Tanzania was among the only seven countries of Africa that still have wild dogs, others being Kenya, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Lesotho, Botswana and South Africa.

TANZANIA: Protection Of Natural Resources To Guarantee Jobs

Protection of natural resources is one sector which can guarantee the youth ample employment opportunities, the board chairman for Ngorongoro Conservation Area Authority Honorable Pius Msekwa stated here.

Honorable Msekwa was speaking at the Mbulu-Mbulu ward's training base for the forest and wildlife rangers working with NCAA, during the occasion in which a total of 145 such wardens were graduating from special training over the weekend, in Karatu. "Wildlife and other forms of natural resources are the main source of the country's revenue, the base for the tourism industry as well as national's responsibility in protecting the world's natural heritage on behalf of the whole earth," said Honorable Msekwa, adding that protection of such resources was not something to be taken lightly. "And there is no limit on how much we should spend in ensuring that these important heritages are well taken care of," said Honorable Msekwa adding that with shortage of manpower to undertake the tasks, the youth population in the country should be trained to take up such jobs.

The special training of rangers as well as other tourism personnel from the Ngorongoro Conservation Area Authority was being undertaken by Commander Venance Bruno Tossi who heads the special unit to stop indiscriminate killing of wildlife, illegal export of live animals and other vices targeting the country's natural resources.

"We have already conducted these training series at Selous Game reserve, Serengeti National Park and now we are at the climax of training for the 145 personnel at the Ngorongoro Conservation Area Authority" stated Commander Tossi. He said the training included how to combat poachers, following their trail, proper command of various firearms, investigations skills and how to involve the local community in dealing with crime cases within protected areas. The Acting Chief Conservator for NCAA Mr Shaddy Kyambile said the training started on the 10th of February 2012 involving soldiers from nine zones of Olbalbal, Naiyobi, Endulen, Kakesio, Nainokanoka, Lake Eyasi, Ngorongoro Crater, Olmoti Crater and the Northern Highland Forest reserve of Karatu.

"The training also involved female officers who normally work as foreign permit inspectors at the various Tourist Hotels located within the park as well as police officers serving at the Ngorongoro post," said Mr Kyambile. The Public relations Officer at the NCAA Mr Nickson Nyange said the 145 trained officers accounted for 82 per cent of the total army base at the park and that the remaining 18 per cent were to be trained later.

TANZANIA: Ngorongoro Conservation Area Less Tourists Coming In

The Tanzania’s leading tourist destination Ngorongoro Conservation Area has experienced a sharp drop of tourist vehicles getting into the Ngorongoro Crater, senior official of the wildlife sanctuary has said.

Adam Akyoo, Public Relations Manager of Ngorongoro Conservation Area Authority (NCAA), said that the situation has been caused by the outbreak of Ebola disease in western African countries and a series of terrorist attacks in neighboring Kenya.

"We are highly affected with those two factors," he said, adding that before, an average of 300 tourist vehicles used to get into the Ngorongoro Crater per day, but now only an average of 20 vehicles were registered per day.

"This is a very serious situation in this country’s leading tourist attraction," he said.

Akyoo said NCAA was working on establishing other alternative measures including erecting a storey building in Arusha city center, which will be used for economic investment.

"We are expecting to spend about 250 million U.S. dollars for the completion of the proposed storey building in Arusha," he said.

"The idea is to make revenue of the NCAA remain intact at the time when doldrums like this happens."

Ngorongoro MP Saning’o Ole Telele suggested the need for the NCAA to embark in a serious campaign to promote domestic tourism.

"What we are seeing now is a wake-up call.

"Let’s start encouraging our people to inculcate a culture of visiting our tourist destinations.

"Though they’ll be paying a little money, but that will make us continue with our wildlife conservation efforts, " the MP said.

Catherine Mbena, communication manager at the Tanzania National Parks (Tanapa), admitted that the country’s tourism industry was passing through a very difficult time.

"The current trend hadn’t happened before," she said.

For the past two years, the Tanzania’s wildlife fully-packed caldera recorded nearly 700,000 tourists annually which is high compared to other parks.

However, the recent trend sends a shockwave to the country’s tourism industry, which ranks top in contributing to GDP.

The situation also ruins country’s endeavors of increasing number of foreign tourist arrivals to more than 2.5 million by 2017.

TANZANIA: Aviation Expert Begs For Revitalising National Carrier

FORMER Transport Minister, Omari Nundu has appealed to the government to consider previous suggestions made by players in the aviation industry on revamping the ailing national carrier, Air Tanzania.

Mr Nundu, renowned aviation expert, was of a view that the country should make use of local finances to invest in the flag bearer to boost tourism and economy at large, rather than largely depending on foreign investments.

He made the observation while reacting to issues raised by stakeholders during a workshop organized by the Tanzania Civil Aviation Authority (TCAA), as part of activities to mark the International Civil Aviation Day (ICAD), which climaxes on December 7.

“Way back in 2012 a number of proposals were made on how the national carrier could be brought back to its feet but there wasn’t willingness to implement the plan,” Mr Nundu explained.

During meeting bringing together industry players that year a number of options were offered to the government including involvement of tourism-related parastatals and social security funds to raise funds for the airline.

It was then proposed that the Tanzania National Parks Authority (TANAPA) and Ngorongoro Conservation Area Authority (NCCA) should contribute 30 and 10 per cent in equity, respectively.

On the other hand, the National Social Security Fund (NSSF) and PPF Pension Fund were to raise 10 per cent each while the public and the government would own the remaining stake through the Dar es Salaam Stock Exchange (DSE).

There was as well an alternative of welcoming a strategic investor to own 25 per cent stake and the remaining shares be held by the tourism related parastatals and the public.

Earlier, the Executive Secretary of TCCA-Consumer Consultative Council (TCAACCC), Mr Hamza Johari, echoed the sentiments by the former minister, stressing that there was no need to ‘re-invent the wheel’ stick to the previous plan.