HOW COVID-19 JABS GAVE BOOST TO TOURISM IN TANZANIA

Swift action by the Tanzanian government to launch a vaccination campaign against Covid-19 has had a positive effect on tourism, Minister for Natural Resources and Tourism, Damas Ndumbaro has said. Despite being severely battered by the pandemic, the tourism sector recorded a 52% increase in the number of visitors from January to November 2021. This has led to a 69% rise in revenue collection from the tourism sector, as well as the hospitality industry.

In July 2021, the government had down-played the importance of Covid-19 vaccines but decided to adhere to the World Health Organization (WHO) rules. The outbreak of the pandemic in early 2020 led to a sharp fall in tourism arrivals from slightly more than 1.5 million tourists in 2019 to about 600,000 tourists in 2020. The fall in arrivals triggered an even more devastating drop in revenue collections to U.S.$1.7 billion in 2020 from an all-time record of U.S.$ 2.5 billion in 2019.

Source: All Africa