Tanzania launches marketing initiatives to attract Indain tourist

New Delhi, Jun 19 (UNI) Eyeing the growing tourist outflow, Tanzania today launched its first ever marketing initiative to boost the high-end leisure traffic from India.

''There lies a huge opportunity in India for increasing the traffic inflow to our nation. Though the number of visitors from India is not high, but we hope to increase this substantially in the coming years,'' United Republic of Tanzania Natural Resources and Tourism Minister Shamsa Selengia Mwangunga told reporters here.

Tanzania received 15,000 Indian visitors last year from its total inflow tourist of about seven lakhs.

The Minister is leading an 11-member trade delegation comprising of tour operators, members of the hospitality industry and representatives of Tanzania National Parks.

In order to substantiate the arrivals from the Indian market, Ms Mwangunga said the national airline 'Air Tanzania' is in the process of providing air service link to Mumbai to cater the business and leisure traffic from this city.

Apart from conducting interactive business sessions with the travel industry in the city and Mumbai, Tanzania plans to pay ''regular visits'' to the country for attracting tourists.

Ms Mwangunga had yesterday met the Indian Tourism Minister Ambika Soni and urged her to explore the possibility of restoring a direct flight connection between India and Tanzania.

Presently, Air India, the national carrier, flies to Tanzania via Kenya. Earlier, it used to fly directly to Tanzania.

A memorandum of understanding (MoU) was signed between the two countries in the tourism sector to facilitate future cooperation, Ms Mwangunga said.

The hot spots of Tanzania offer a splendid travel experience with adventure tourism through game viewing, trekking, deep sea fishing, snorkelling and scuba diving coupled with cultural tourism comprising a variety of historical and archaeological sites, she said.

The country has 16 National Parks and 32 Games Reserves inhabited by over 120 different tribes.

The most recognisable tourism brands of Tanzania include Serenget National Park, which is best known wildlife sanctuary; Kilimanjaro, the highest peak of Africa; Ngorongaro Conservation Area, a world heritage site; and Zanzibar, the spice island with white palm fringed beaches.

The average package cost for travel to this country for five nights starts from Rs 80,000 onwards which includes economy airfare, accomodation, ground transfers game park entrance fees for specified game parks.

UNI MP SR NS1758