PAVED ROADS NO HARM TO TOURISM

 BY GRACE MACHA IN ARUSHA

The Natural Resources and Tourism minister Mohamed Mchengerwa has rubbished claims that paved roads harmed nature-based tourism.

He told tourism stakeholders in Arusha last week that instead the better maintained roads triggered the flow of tourists to nature sites.

He said it was a  pity that there were still people who thought construction of paved roads near or through the national parks would scare away the animals.

"Please do away with this narrative. On the contrary, the opposite is the case. Easily accessible parks will pull in visitors", he told scores of industry players at the Tanzania National Park (Tanapa) head office.

He added that if the wild animals were scared by the vehicles plying such roads, then many game sanctuaries would be devoid of wildlife by now.

The minister insisted that it was when there were good and well maintained roads that many foreign and domestic tourists would flock to the sites in question.

He cited the paved highway leading to the Ngorongoro Conservation Area (NCA) which has enabled the conservation area and other nearby sanctuaries to attract hundreds of thousands of visitors.

The 77 kilometre Makuyuni-Ngorongoro highway was carpeted with bitumen about 20 years ago, triggering an influx of visitors never seen before and making NCA one of the leading destinations in Tanzania.

The upgrading of the highway benefited the Serengeti and Lake Manyara National Parks, the archeological sites at Olduvai and Laetoli as well Lake Eyasi cultural sites.

Mr. Mchengerwa was briefing the tourism industry players on what the government was doing to address challenges facing the sector, including poor infrastructure.

He said the government would soon start upgrading the 88 kilometre portion of the road from NCA main gate near Karatu town all the way to Serengeti in the west.

The highway attracts a high volume of vehicles; half of them heading or coming from Serengeti and others taking visitors to various sites within the 8,292 square km NCA.

The minister said he need not cite examples of countries where tarmac roads have not harmed the nature-based tourism and instead eased accessibility to the remote but ecologically rich sites.

"Within Tanzania, there are modern highways crossing through the parks and other protected areas. The wild animals are still there as are the visitors. Where is the problem?", he asked.

He said in the affirmative that tarmac roads would bring more visitors and hence increase the earnings by more than 50 percent above the level before they were paved.

He stressed that infrastructure upgrading would top the ministry's priorities at the moment "and this is meant to increase numbers and our earnings".

During the conversation that preceded his address, stakeholders pointed out poor maintenance of roads leading to the national parks.

The challenge is more pronounced in the northern tourist circuits which continue to attract nearly 80 percent of foreign visitors to Tanzania.