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Maghembe lashes out at TTB for dismal performance
2006-12-20 09:41:51
By Pascal Shao
Natural Resources and Tourism Minister Prof. Jumanne Maghembe yesterday took a swipe at the Tanzania Tourism Board (TTB), accusing it of dismal performance in marketing the country’s tourist attractions.
Speaking during the launch of the new TTB board of directors, the minister, in whose docket falls TTB, charged that statistics by the International Visitors’ Exit Survey report of 2001(IVESR) indicated that the board’s contribution in marketing the country’s tourist attraction was only 0.5 per cent.
He lamented that TTB’s contribution was minimal considering that it is the board’s sole responsibility to effectively market the country and that was the government’s expectation.
Prof Maghembe said the IVESR 2001 indicated that 30 per cent of tourists get information about the country’s tourist attraction through tourist and travel agents while almost 25 per cent get information from interpersonal conversations.
Other sources of information, he said, such as guide books, tourist agents publications and internet accounted for 44.5 per cent.
Without mincing words, the minister tasked the board to step up the marketing of tourist attractions from a dismal 0.5 per cent to 40 per cent.
Visibly, enraged Maghembe pledged that his ministry would supervise construction of tourism sector infrastructure to enable it contribute effectively in bringing economic development to the country.
He also noted that it was also the responsibility of TTB to supervise the designing of the national tourist website, recruit more workers, propose ways of improving government revenue through tourism and prepare programme for implementation of marketing strategies.
The TTB Board of Directors Chairman, Daniel Yona, catalogued the problems bedevilling the board negating on its capacity to effectively market and administer as insufficient government subsidy and understaffing.
He lamented that the insufficient budgetary allocation from the treasury was responsible for the board’s inability to effectively compete with other countries in marketing Tanzania’s tourist attractions.
Yona noted that government subsidy to the board for the year 2006/07 was 1.5/bn- against a requisition of 4.5 bn/- by the board.
Currently, the chairman noted, the board has 33 members of staff while the staff establishment requisition is 62.
The chairman also identified outdated board organisational structure, which in the actual sense needs amendments and inadequate board representation in other institutions and stakeholders as a factor of retro-gressing the effectiveness of the board.
Yona suggested that the TTB should be mandated by the central government to levy a fee on hotel bed occupancy, national park entry fee and other areas to cushion the board’s budgetary deficit for effective delivery.
”This system is being used by other countries’ tourist boards in Africa and worldwide with great achievements registered,” he said.
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