TANAPA Records Impressive Revenue Growth and Increased Tourist Numbers

The Tanzanian National Parks, (TANAPA) has successfully increased its revenue over a period of three years from 174.7 billion Tanzanian Shillings in the fiscal year 2021/2022 to 337.4 billion Tanzanian Shillings in the fiscal year 2022/2023.

Speaking on March 21, 2024, in Dar es Salaam at a Editors' Meeting of various media outlets coordinated by the Treasury Registrar's Office, TANAPA's Commissioner of Conservation, Juma Kuji, stated that there is a revenue increase of 162.7 billion Tanzanian Shillings, equivalent to a 94 percent increase.

Commissioner Kuji mentioned that in the fiscal year 2023/2024, from July 2023 to March 19, 2024, TANAPA has collected 340.1 billion Tanzanian Shillings compared to the expected collection of 295.5 billion Tanzanian Shillings by March 2024.

He explained that the current revenue exceeds the 282.5 billion Tanzanian Shillings collected in the fiscal year 2018/2019 before the COVID-19 pandemic, which was the previous highest revenue level for the Authority.

"There is an increase in both tourists and revenue, aligning with the goals of the Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM) Manifesto for 2020 – 2025, which aims to reach five million tourists and six billion US dollars in revenue annually by 2025," said Commissioner Kuji.

INCREASE IN TOURIST NUMBERS

He also noted that the number of tourists in the country has increased from 997,873 tourists in the fiscal year 2021/2022 to 1,670,437 tourists in the fiscal year 2022/2023.

For the current fiscal year 2023/2024, from July 2023 to March 19, 2024, the number of tourists was 1,514,726.

Commissioner Kuji stated that domestic tourists numbered 721,543, while international tourists were 793,183.

He elaborated that the number of tourists visiting National Parks represents a 5 percent increase, surpassing the target of receiving 1,387,987 tourists (827,713 international and 726,676 domestic tourists) during the respective period.

He said the expected number of tourists to visit National Parks for the fiscal year 2023/2024 is 1,830,081 (963,413 international tourists and 866,667 domestic tourists).

"Over the past three years, there has been an increase in the average length of stay from an average of 1,749,194 days in the fiscal year 2021/2022 to an average of 2,669,586 days as of February 2024," said Commissioner Kuji.

Deodatus Balile, Chairman of the Tanzanian Editors' Forum (TEF) and Vice President of the East African Editors' Forum, urged TANAPA to utilize the media in educating the public on various operational issues.

He stated that it is time for TANAPA to explore various opportunities by amending laws or using regulations to conserve national leaders' gravesites and make them part of the conservation effort, as is the case in other countries.