Dar es Salaam — The number of tourists visiting Tanzania is on the rise – thanks to the government’s decision to open the country to visitors earlier than all its regional peers post-Covid-19, the minister for Tourism and Natural Resources, Dr Hamisi Kigwangalla, said yesterday.
The government reopened the country to tourism in May when it allowed flights and tourism to resume after a period of closure due to the Coviud-19 pandemic.
After reopening, the government formulated Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) and later dialogued with airline companies, hotels and other institutions to continue with business in order to enable foreign tourists to resume touring the country.
The SOPs provide guidance on health and safety issues to be observed by all operators in the tourism chain.
Speaking in Dar es Salaam yesterday, Dr Kigwangalla said the number of international visitors coming to the country has been increasing by the day.
“Statistics show that the number of tourists increased in June 2020 compared to the months of April and May. In the month of July 2020, for instance, the Ngorongoro Conservation Area received 1,972 tourists. That was an increase of 89.8 percent compared to the 202 tourists who arrived in Ngorongoro in April 2020,” he said.
Tanzania’s National Parks received 3,666 tourists in July, an 85.9 percent increase from the 517 tourists who arrived in the country in April 2020.
He noted that the government adopted a series of unparalleled measures for the prevention, control and treatment which curbed spread of the pandemic.
Tanzania is now open to international flights operated by Ethiopian Airlines, Qatar Airways, Turkish Airlines, Royal Dutch (KLM), Swiss Air, RwandaAir, Emirates Airlines, Fly Dubai, Oman Air and Kenya Airways.
Official figures show that tourism receipts dropped to $2.1 billion during the year to June 30, 2020, down from $2.5 billion during the year that ending on June 30, 2019 – and against a target collection of $2.7 billion as earlier planned.