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Capacity upgrading at TTB long overdue
2006-12-22 09:06:24
By Editor
An astounding revelation by the Minister for Natural Resources and Tourism Prof. Jumanne Maghembe Tuesday that Tanzania Tourism Board (TTB) contribution in marketing the country’s tourism attraction was only 0.5 percent deserves some comments.
Whatever the reasons behind, that was bad news indeed, taking into account of the foregone benefits due to poor marketing and promotion of this lucrative sub-sector.
It was even more amazing to note that 25 percent of tourists coming to Tanzania get information about out tourism potential from words of mouth.
This was too dangerous! The so called ’words of mouth’ have often intentionally provided misleading information about the location some of our strategic tourism attractions and the quality of our infrastructure.
It was customary for instance to hear stories that refer to Mount Kilimanjaro as being located in Kenya and that its superb view would be obtained from Amboseli.
This trend was even more perilous as we approach closer to East African Customs Union (EACU), in addition to an increasing pace of globalization.
At its best, TTB has been busy attending international tourism fairs and little has been done to promote domestic tourism.
However, it is no secret that TTB lacks the requisite capacity for implementing its marketing strategies effectively.
For years, the government agency goes under-funded, understaffed, has not upgraded its communication technologies, while its organizational structure leaves much to be desired.
If the government feels that it cannot meet TTB’s annual budgetary needs, then other sources of revenue should be looked into.
Even though, the recommendation for new levies, say, levy fee on hotel bed occupancy, national park entry fees and the like should be worked out by TTB and tabled to government for consideration.
It remains that there are two sides to a coin. Effective Public-private partnerships for speeding up country’s tourism marketing activities should be given a chance, as part of a strategy for upgrading TTB’s functional capacity.
Otherwise, the road of don’t care would lead us to the city of had I known!
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