Tanzania targets 1m foreign visitors in 2010

Dar es Salaam: Tanzania plans to attract one million foreign tourists to the country in 2010 as a result of a six-month marketing campaign being run in the UK and the US, the state-run Tanzania Tourist Board said.

The number of visitors to the East African country will probably rise seven per cent this year to 800,000, Peter Mwenguo, managing director of the board, said in an interview in the commercial capital, Dar es Salaam. Last year tourist arrivals increased 16 per cent as visitors flocked to attractions such as Mount Kilimanjaro, Africa tallest peak, and Serengeti National Park, he said.

Zanzibar, Tanzania's semi-autonomous Indian Ocean island, drew 170,000 visitors last year, Mwenguo said.

"Tourism is becoming one of Tanzania's fast-growing sectors and there is a bigger drive than before to promote it," he said.

Tourism contributed 17 per cent, or $862 million, to Tanzania's economy in the fiscal year to the end of June, Mwenguo said.

Expectation

This could increase to 25 per cent by 2011, earning the country $1.5 billion, he said.

The $750,000 marketing campaign, which includes television and billboard advertisements, is due to run until the end of March.

Tanzania's tourism industry will also enjoy positive spinoffs from US President George W. Bush's four-day visit this month, which highlighted Tanzania as a safe and stable nation, said Mwenguo.