EXPECTATIONS HIGH ON OCTOBER WTO CONFERENCE

Marketing and investment talks targeting the local players will grace the coming World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) conference.

The meeting will take place here in October year as the leading sector in foreign exchange earnings has all signs of a quick recovery.

The investment forum, in particular, shall disclose the investment opportunities available in the tourism sector within the country.

This was disclosed in Arusha  last week by the minister for Natural Resources and Tourism Pindi Chana when briefing the media on the preparations of the event.

"The marketing symposium is geared towards building capacity to the tourism stakeholders",she said at Gran Melia Arusha.

The 65th conference of the UNWTO's Commission for Africa is scheduled to take place in Arusha from October 5th to 7th, the first time it is being held in Tanzania.

Dr.Pindi said nothing will be left to chance to ensure the country benefited from the  event "considering the role played by the tourism sector in our economy".

Themed 'Rebuilding Africa's Tourism Resilience for Inclusive Socio-Economic Development', the conference will, among others, attract tourism ministers from Africa.

The minister said the government was optimistic that tourism will regain its glory to pre Covid-19 days after which the arrivals dropped drastically.

One of the strategies at hand is the development of MICE (meetings, incentives, conferences and exhibitions) windows to attract more foreign visitors.

The minister added that the government is determined to increase the number of tourists to five million in 2025, earning the economy a hefty $6 billion.

She said she expected the media to be on the frontline in promoting Destination Tanzania "in both domestic and foreign tourism source markets".

Prior to the outbreak of Covid-19 tourists arrivals to Tanzania had reached a record 1.5 million visitors, generating an all time high  of $2.5 billion in 2019.

Thereafter, the number of visitors dropped to only about 600,000 in 2020, slightly rising to about 900,000 last year (2021) as travel restrictions were eased globally.

There are signs that the number of tourists will cross the one million mark this year (2022), the first time since the Covid-19 calamity set in.

Already the foreign arrivals recorded between January and May this year have gone up by 44 percent compared to last year from 317,270 to 458,048.

UNWTO director for Regional Department for Africa Ms Elcia Grandcourt lauded Tanzania for serious efforts it has taken to develop its tourism sector.

She said tourism remains one of the key economic sectors in the world, contributing 10.3 percent of Global GDP before the outbreak of Covid-19.

Moreover, the sector contributed 6.8 percent of total exports globally and generated 333 million jobs across the world.

UNWTO was created in 1975 as a specialized agency of the United Nations to promote responsible, sustainable and universally acceptable tourism.