The Government of Tanzania and the Government of Seychelles began conversations earlier this month to foster a plan to build a partnership between the two countries, utilizing the Tanzania Tourist Board (TTB) and the Seychelles Tourist Board in order to take advantage of the opportunity of marketing themselves as a twin-centered tourist destination.
Earlier this month the Seychelles Tourist Board worked in collaboration with Tanzania Ministry of Tourism and Natural Resources in order to launch a Seychelles tourism promotion week in Dar es Salaam at the Sun and Sea at a Dar es Salaam hotel.
The Tanzanian Permanent Secretary for the Ministry of Tourism and Natural Resources, Dr. Ladislaus Komba, officiated the event saying that the move will serve as a means to strengthen business relations between the two countries in general and will particularly help in the promotion of the two countries as a single package tourism destination.
“Definitely, Tanzania Tourist Board (TTB) and Seychelles Tourist Board will be the focal points for creating these partnerships,” Dr. Komba, “I am looking forward to seeing common promotional events.”
During the launch of the promotion week in Dar es Salaam, Dr. Komba went on to further explain the benefits of a partnership saying, “the partnerships will enhance wise resource use as well as achieving the objective of making tourism industry one of the economic pillars of our economies.”
In addition, Dr. Komba also spoke about the changing needs of the modern tourist.
“The modern tourist seeks more individual offers and self-enrichment,” he said, “[and] is also more value and price sensitive.”
According to Dr. Komba, because the average traveller has become more sophisticated and because the competition to attract tourists is continuously increasing, the provision of high value tourism continues to be a challenge.
“You have therefore to give a reason for the tourist buying your products,” he said, “If Safari experience in Tanzania is complimented with Beach products in Seychelles, we will be creating a unique destination with an outstanding appeal.”
The Seychelles Ambassador to Tanzania and the Director of the Seychelles Tourist Board, Alain St. Ange, represented the Oceania state at the event and stressed the need for the two African countries to work together in order to promote tourism.
According to Mr. St. Ange, both the Seychelles and Tanzania stand to benefit by generating foreign exchange.
“It’s a fact that the tourism sector will help unite not only Seychelles and Tanzania but the whole of Africa”, said the ambassador.
Andrew Kioko, the CEO of Tanzania’s primary domestic passenger airline, Precision Air, also spoke at the launch of the promotion week, saying that his company is planning to increase its fleet of aircrafts in order to expand its services both within the East African Community countries and to the Oceania states of Seychelles, as well as to other African countries.
In addition, Mr. Kioko went on to say that plans are currently underway to introduce a scheduled route to the Seychelles next year.
