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Dark cloud is hanging over Arusha
2006-11-12 10:10:59
By Adam Ihucha, Arusha
Fears are rife that the northern Tanzanian safari capital, Arusha, may be put under quarantine due to the fresh outbreak of cholera, but a senior medical official has moved fast to allay the fears.
Amongst people most worried by that eventuality are tour operators in the northern tourist circuit, because the move would cripple the tourism industry.
A fresh cholera epidemic in Arusha that health officials are trying to contain was officially confirmed towards the end of last month when eight patients were hospitalized.
The Arusha Municipal Director, Dr. Job Laizer, says until Friday, 32 patients were undergoing treatment at the Levolosi special designated cholera camp.
”Our great worry is about quarantine…because we have bookings that have been confirmed one to five months to come” said Fuad Ally Said, a marketing officer of one of the tour companies.
He added: ”If a quarantine is slapped on Arusha, we will be forced to cancel all the bookings and other arrangements.”
Mosses Adam, the Executive Managing Director for Tanzania Social Tourism and Development Agency (TSTDA), fears the tourism industry would be hurt, should the government decide to impose the quarantine to Arusha.
”A simple translation of quarantine is that there would be no human movement…nobody will be allowed to enter Arusha and vice-versa for Arusha residents to go anywhere” Adam explained.
An executive in the industry, Minaz Mohamed Shakil, expressed fear that if the move would be declared, ”the entire tourism transaction may collapse”.
Shakil was of view that the government should officially issue the cholera outbreak alert to all tour players via Tanzania Tour Operators Association (TATO).
”We are greatly worried about the quarantine” she told this paper, explaining that the move will have devastating effects to them as tour operators and the nation at large.
Shakil added: ”We are supposed to be informed officially over the cholera epidemic so that we can be in position to alert our clients to be vaccinated before coming,” she said.
The Executive Secretary for TATO, Mustapha Akoonay, said he had not yet received any official information on the cholera outbreak.
The Arusha Municipal Executive Director, Dr. Job Laizer, allayed tour operators’ fears, saying that the disease would be controlled as soon as possible.
”It is true that we have a fresh cholera outbreak, but we are working round the clock to contain it sooner than later…so there would be no quarantine whatsoever,” said Dr. Laizer, a medical doctor by professional.
Located in the north of Tanzania, Arusha has a population of 270,485 (2002 census). This city is located on a plateau in the Great Rift Valley amidst the Serengeti Plains, Ngorongoro Crater, Lake Manyara, Olduvai Gorge, Tarangire National Park and Mount Kilimanjaro National park.
Arusha, which is one of Tanzania’s most developed and fastest growing urban centres, is the hub of the Tanzanian northern tourist circuit, which accounts for 80 per cent of all tourist arrivals in Tanzania.
Established in 1900 as a minor German military garrison, Arusha reportedly lies halfway between Cape Town in South Africa and Cairo in Egypt.
Nowadays it is not only the country’s most active tourism centre, but also an important regional business and administrative centre as it is hosting a number of international organizations like International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) and the headquarters of the East African community (EAC).
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