By Apolinari Tairo
Published December 1, 2013
Close to 85% of tourists visiting Tanzania do not return to the country due to higher costs of flight and accommodation services which are three times higher than what is charged by other destinations.
Santiago Martinez-Caro, Director-General of CASA African Company, says tourism prices in Tanzania are three times higher. He advised tourist stakeholders to look into the issue during his visit to Tanzania at the end of November 2013.
He noted that flights into Tanzania and tourist accommodation services were very expensive to most Spanish tourists wishing to visit this country..
Reginald Mengi, Chairman of the Tanzania Private Sector Foundation, said it was unfortunate that most tourists visit Tanzania just once.
Martinez-Caro said CASA Africa is looking at the best options that would help the African continent to minimise travel and tourism costs.
CASA Africa is a Spanish government institution mandated to foster stronger ties between Spain and Africa to reinforce Africa’s capacity to employ tourism as an effective instrument of socio-economic development and poverty reduction.
“There are huge business opportunities in the African tourism sector. This initiative allows Spanish businesses to sit down with their African counterparts and invest in viable tourism projects in Africa,” Martinez-Caro said.
International tourism in Africa has almost doubled since 2000, growing from 26 million international tourist arrivals to 50 million in 2012.
