Tourism industry players in Arusha have said recovery from the impact of Covid-19 was still some miles away.
They said in their response to measures announced last week when the budget was tabled in Parliament that the sector was far away from even a modest recovery.
"The situation has not changed. We are still grappling with falling businesses", lamented Andrews Malalika, the director of Jackpot Safaris.
He said with an increase in fuel, transport costs will rise, impacting on local transportation of the few tourists around the country.
Mr. Malalika, who is a member of the tours' lobby group based in Arusha, said the sector continues to be subjected to a raft of taxes despite repeated appeals to have them scrapped.
Without elaborating, the tour operator remarked;"It is true some taxes were scrapped in the past two years or so but some have remained".
He also expressed his fears that the cumbersome Covid-19 tests at the entry and exit points would frustrate the flow of foreign tourists.
"Tanzania is still a favoured destination for tourists even with the pandemic. But we have to improve services at our airports", he insisted.
Without the pandemic which broke out last year, Tanzania would have attracted a total of 1.9million tourists last year, generating $ 2.9billion.
After Covid-19, the government estimated tourist arrivals would drop to between 900,000 to one million for 2020. It could not be established if that figure was reached.
The minister for Finance and Planning Mwigulu Nchemba tabled the Sh. 36.2trillion budget for 2021/2022 financial year in the Parliament on Thursday.
On the tourism sector, he announced funding arrangements for the state-run conservation agencies whose earnings from tourism had been impacted by Covid-19.
These are the Tanzania National Parks (Tanapa, the Ngorongoro Conservation Area Authority (NCAA) and the Tanzania Wildlife Management Authority (Tawa).
The three bodies had also been thrown into a sort of cash management crisis after the government directed their revenue collections be remitted directly to the Treasury.
From the next fiscal year (2021/2022), the government will release funds to finance their day-to-day operations as well as implementation of development projects.
However, an Arusha business CEO, Walter Maeda, said the solution to the cash crisis facing the conservation agencies has to be sought because if they have to be sustainable.
He cited the challenges facing Tanapa which manages 22 national parks across the country, nearly a quarter of them established in the past two years.
Mr. Maeda, who is the chairperson of the regional chapter of Tanzania Chamber of Commerce, Industry and Agriculture (TCCIA), said some national parks were not generating money.
"It is very costly to manage all the 22 parks because only a few were generating money from the tourists", he pointed out.
Senior officials of the Arusha-based-Tanapa have repeatedly said many national parks were financially supported by revenues collected from a few others.
Those collecting enough cash exceeding their operational costs include the world-famous Serengeti and Kilimanjaro National Parks and one or two others in the Arusha region.
Like in many countries in Africa, Covid-19 impact on Tanzania's tourism largely manifested in decline in safari expeditions, temporary closure of lodges and general cut back in operations.
This led to, among others, loss of revenue for allied players such as the airlines, hotels, national parks and loss of jobs for thousands of workers, especially in 2020.
For the entire East Africa, it was estimated that the region lost international tourism receipts to the tune of $ a staggering 4.8billion for 2020.
About 6.4 million foreign tourists may have been unable to visit the region for the year coming to an end due to global travel restrictions.
BY GRACE MACHA IN ARUSHA
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