REGIONAL Administrative Secretaries from seven Southern Highland areas have joined hands to establish their own tourism promotion platforms including a new ‘Karibu Kusini,’ Travel Expo.
Speaking in Arusha, the Chairperson of the Secretaries, Ms H appiness Seneda said the move is being executed in association with the Ministry of Natural Resources and Tourism, the Tanzania Broadcasting Corporation (TBC) and the Tanzania Standard Newspapers (TSN).
She said that the move is not aimed at shifting tourism focus from the North to the South, but rather to roll out more attractions so that the country could get new varieties of leisure visitors as well as persuading those who had already toured Tanzania to come back for new adventures.
The anticipated ‘Karibu Kusini,’ fair and related southern tourism promotion platforms come just as the regions are in preparation for the second phase of the World Bank funded Resilient Natural Resource Management for Tourism and Growth Project, (REGROW).
With dates set to be announced later, the forthcoming ‘Karibu Kusini,’ tourism expo, borrows a leaf from the already successful Karibu Tourism Fair of Arusha, Kilimanjaro Travel Fair (KILFAIR) of Moshi and the Swahili International Tourism Expo (SITE) of Dar es Salaam, to raise similar interest in the southern circuit.
The Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Natural Resources and Tourism, Prof Adolf Mkenda said studies have shown many tourists visit the country once— usually a oneway trip— and hardly return for another experience.
“It is because our travel industry is consolidated in the Northern Z one only, which for travellers gets tiring easily because Ngorongoro Crater, Mount Kilimanjaro and Serengeti National Park, are tightly placed together and once visitors cover these attractions they find no reason to repeat the journey,” Prof Mkenda said.
TBC Managing Director Dr Ayoub Rioba said they will play major role in promoting the South through its newly launched Tanzania Safari Television Channel.
The country now wants to aggressively promote the Southern H ighlands, where essentially there are more and unexplored attractions than the North, including the country’s largest National Park— Ruaha, Africa’s largest Game Reserve, Selous and the world’s flower haven, Kitulo.
The Southern Circuit also includes Katavi, Kitulo, Mahale, Udzungwa Mountains, Mikumi National Parks, two rift valley lakes on Nyasa and Tanganyika, areas of cultural interest and access to the primary gateway town of Iringa.
Initiatives to map the South into global tourism map is being undertaken by Regional Administrative Secretaries from seven southern precincts, including Iringa, Mbeya, Njombe, Rukwa, Katavi, Songwe and the slightly central, Morogoro.
