Optimism is high among stakeholders as Arusha gears for a global tourism meeting later this year.
The conference, set to attract hundreds of industry players in the world, takes place at a time when the critical sector is recovering from the severe impact of Covid.19.
The minister for Natural Resources and Tourism Damas Ndumbaro on Monday inked the deal with the World Tourism Organization (WTO) to host the October 5th to 7th gathering.
The 65th meeting of the Madrid-based WTO is set to boost the status of the country's safari capital (Arusha) which has missed international conferences for some time.
It will take place after nearly two years in which the country and Africa in general grappled with Covid-19 pandemic which nearly brought the multi million dollar industry to its knees.
The hosting agreement was signed by the minister, currently on a visit to Spain, and the United Nations WTO secretary general Mr. Zurab Pololikashvil in Madrid.
The high profile meeting is expected to be attended by tourism ministers from around Africa and representatives of key tourism promotion agencies the world over.
Officials of the Arusha International Conference Centre (AICC) were last week optimistic that the city has finally won a bid to host such a large gathering.
"We have earlier been notified that should it be held in Arusha, it will take place at AICC", said one senior official on condition of anonymity.
He added when reached out by this media outlet that they were still awaiting details from the government, especially on the number of delegates.
The state-owned conference facility that was constructed in the 1970s has a capacity to host a maximum 1,350 delegates in its nearly a dozen rooms.
News of Tanzania, and Arusha in particular, being chosen to host the WTO conference was announced a day after AICC was challenged to focus on the international conferences.
The Foreign Affairs and East African Cooperation minister Liberata Mulamula said when launching the Centre's new board on Monday that global meetings were more rewarding compared to the local ones.
Residents of Arusha within and outside the tourism business welcomed the news of the grand WTO meeting, calling on various players to maximize on the event.
"It is a very welcome opportunity for Tanzania to open its doors to hundreds of visitors. Tourism had been severely hit by Covid-19" said Prudence Kaijage.
He said the conference will serve as a platform to expose the country's rich tourism niche to the outside world.
"A few months back, you won't think of such (major) conferences in Tanzania. For our tour operators, it is an opportunity to reach out to the travel agents abroad", he added.
Aafez Jivraj, the director of Tanzania Private Select Safaris said although he was seeing prospects for the battered tourism to rebound, it may take some time to reach the pre-pandemic levels.
Priorf to the outbreak of Covid era, the tourist arrivals to Tanzania had reached more than 1.5million visitors, generating an all time high revenue of $ 2.5billion in 2019.
The fall in arrivals triggered a decrease in revenue collections to $1.7billion in 2020 and the number of foreign visitors, in particular, dropped by nearly a half of the 2019 level.
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