By Apolinari Tairo
Published June 8, 2014

Dr Lu Youqing

Dr Lu Youqing, Chinese Ambassador to Tanzania

Tanzanian Parliament has asked the Government to come up with a policy on Chinese relations on economic cooperation.

Though Chinese tourists are said to prefer South Africa, Kenya, Namibia and Egypt to any other African destinations due to improved facilities ranging from hotels, easy air connections, ground handling and visitor services, Tanzania is seeking a share of the growing Chinese travel and tourism business.

But lack of direct flights between key Chinese cities and Tanzania continues to be an obstacle. Tanzania’s share of Chinese tourists reached 13,000 visitors in 2013 against 5,000 in 2012. A delegation of tourism officials from Tanzania visited Beijing in 2013 to encourage Chinese investors and tourists to invest and visit the land of Zanzibar Island and Mount Kilimanjaro.

Meanwhile Zhou Yi, a Chinese millionaire, plans to build a tourist hotel in northern Tanzania’s Serengeti National Park. Zhou declared his interest to invest in Tanzania’s tourist industry in 2013 in a meeting with the Tanzanian delegation in Beijing.

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The millionaire who runs a business empire worth more than US$700 Million owns Hengxu Group of Companies with headquarters in Sichuan Province that specialises in the production of building and industrial packaging material and financial services.

He told the delegation that he had been impressed by the rich and diverse wildlife in Serengeti National park.

“It is a coincidence to have met here and I can assure you that I have been impressed by the park and I am now in the initial stages of applying for an investment site in the area to put up a modern accommodation facility with an increased number of beds for tourists,”Zhou was quoted as having said.

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an eTN article