Jovago goes cyber in domestic tourism

Jovago’s Public Relations Manager Lilian Kisasa made the pledge in Dar es Salaam on Thursday while launching a campaign to motivate Tanzanians into adopting a habit of visiting tourist attractions, share their experiences in various issues related to tourism and share photos from across the country on the social media pages of Twitter, Face Book and Instagram.

“We are embarking on this promotional campaign because there are many Tanzanians who are unaware of what the country can offer in terms of culture, wildlife Safari and island packages, unfoundedly believing they cannot afford entries to those attractions,” she said.

“The main focus was just to help people witness what Tanzania has to offer in tourism sector so that they can visit those areas and be familiar with the national tourism potentials,” she said.

“We want to motivate people who have never paid visits t tourist attractions, to make them discover what they had not expected in their own backyards and realize the importance of exploring their own country,” she said.

She believes that the campaign would help in striking a balance between foreign and domestic tourists as opposed to the current trend depicting 60 per cent foreign tourists against 40 per cent that of Tanzanians whose at their disposal are the sites.

“As a company, we have come up with the new idea to promote domestic tourism following discovery that it lags behind because most people are yet to adopt tour culture as they are scared of entry fees,” she said.

“We do appreciate foreign visitors As they bring us foreign currency, but Tanzanians should take extra measures in promoting their own domestic tourism sector,” said Jovago Tanzania Country Manager Adrea Guzzoni.

Tanzania enjoys an influx of foreign tourists mostly from UK, USA, Italy, German, South Africa and France sharing 60 per cent of all tourists in the country, according to the 2015 Tourism Report.

Direct contribution of travel & tourism industry to the national economy in 2014 amounted to slightly less than Sh3bn, marking 5.1 per cent of GDP, but slightly fell last year, according to the World Travel and Tourism Council.

However, it is expected to grow in an average annual rate of 6.2 per cent to knock over Sh5.3bn heights by 2025, contributing 4.4 per cent to GDP, the industrial experts said.

They say it is primarily a reflection of the economic activities generated by industries such as hotels, travel agencies, airlines and other passenger transportation services.