The Tanzania Tourism Board (TTB) has officially launched on September 16th, 2015 its Tanzania Tourism App, which is meant to complement the country’s new Tourism Destination Portal, launched by Tanzania’s President Jakaya Kikwete during the 8th Tanzania National Business Council (TNBC) Meeting.
The App which contains detailed information on different destinations in Tanzania, accommodation, trip planner, and other tools and services that will be improved over time, has been developed is currently available on Google Play and AppStore.
The Tourism Destination Portal is an online tourism promotional tool aiming at connecting the Small and Medium Tourism Enterprises (SME’s) in Tanzania with the international tourism markets, has been developed with the support of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).
A third component to rebrand Tanzania tourism abroad consists in a new 30 seconds TV advert that will be aired in CNN America and BBC International for six months starting in October, 2015.
These three elements conform the Tanzania’s new brand marketing campaign called “Tanzania, The Soul of Africa” which is meant to raise the international tourism arrivals from 1,140,156 recorded in 2014, to ten million by the year 2025 according to the TTB.
In an exclusive conversation with TanzaniaInvest.com, Devota Mdachi, TTB Act. Director General explained that “We decided to have a new brand in order to show the word that Tanzania is not only about national parks and Zanzibar; it has other tourism assets to offer: culture, history, people.”
President Kikwete commended TTB and tourism stakeholders for the major campaign initiative and urged tour operators to use the App and portal to support the application of the new approaches and boost the tourism sector, which accounts for about 17.2% of Tanzania’s GDP and 25% of total export earnings.
The tourism sector in Tanzania represents an enormous importance as an engine of employment, since it directly employs 250,000 people, added the Tanzania’s President.
According to Tanzania’s Ministry Of Natural Resources and Tourism latest statistics, receipts from tourism arrivals have reached USD 2 billion in 2014.