Shortly after the official launching of the travel documentary, ‘Amazing Tanzania,’ in Beijing, Dar is now embarking on a new campaign to promote the country in the Far East, using China as springboard.
The Tanzania Tourist Board (TTB) hits the roads in China with the tourism campaign going under the hashtag of ‘summon them to Tanzania,’ or as known as ‘Waite Waje Tanzania!’
The campaign targets to attract oriental visitors to Tanzania. Already travel research insights indicate that China will be producing the highest number of international bound tourists in the coming years.
According to Google Analytics on the future travel industry, China will be producing over 310 million international travellers by the year 2040.
In fact, China was responsible for nearly 155 million travellers in 2019, and it is being estimated that at the moment Beijing is producing an average of 180 international bound tourists per year and counting.
Addressing an audience of more than 600 participants at the ‘2024 Conference on China-Africa Cultural and Tourism Cooperation and Exchange,’ the Director General of the Tanzania Tourist Board, Ephraim Mafuru opened the curtain to reveal vast opportunities and tourism potential in the country.
And Mafuru packaged the country well. Chinese visitors are more oriented towards culture and landscape.
Tanzania with over 120 different types of ethnic communities is amply catered for that, plus being the only country in Africa, South of Sahara which has a Geopark, featuring Geological tourism which China has also been funding.
It should be noted that TTB won the coveted title of ‘The Best Tourist Board,’ in Africa at the World Travel Awards 2024, while Tanzania was named the top tourist destination on the continent this year.
An average of 1.5 million foreign tourists visits Tanzania annually.
“All the travel, tourism and hospitality potential that Tanzania has to offer has taken into consideration the country’s rich cultural diversity, spellbinding landscape tapestry and the diplomatic cooperation between our two leaders, President Samia Suluhu and Xi Jinping,” Mafuru maintained.
During the forum all the seven UNESCO heritage sites mapped in Tanzania were promoted.
China and Tanzania marks 60 years of mutual cooperation in almost all fields.
Dar and Beijing have been working together for the last six decades, thanks to the groundwork laid by the founding leaders of the two nations, Mwalimu Julius Nyerere and Mao Tse-Tung.