Air Tanzania joins TATO to boost tourism

By DEUS NGOWI in Arusha 

THE national flag carrier, Air Tanzania Company Limited (ATCL) and Tanzania Association of Tour Operators (TATO) are joining hands in boosting tourism in the country by ensuring reliable airline travel.

In a joint event organised on Tuesday evening, top officials of the duo as well as top tour operators underlined the necessity of ATCL to increase routes so as to cater for a high volume of tourists who now

face expensive travel costs using light aircraft.

ATCL Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Eng Ladislaus Matindi said the revamping of ATCL was on course and sees no reason why the airline should not join hands in boosting the country’s highest earning sector of tourism.

Eng Matindi unveiled that most of the company’s clients were tourists or those involved in serving the holidaymakers.

The airline chief also ensures travellers that the government had precisely answered their cry to have a sound flag carrier, saying they now boast of having four aircrafts with some more to come.

He said the aviation industry has many challenges and ATCL is no exceptional, saying that apart from working hard in revamping it by improving service delivery and increasing the number of routes, it was moving promptly to clean its image that was targeted to be badly presented by either its competitors or some ill-will people.

Mr Matindi noted that they have since moved from the ‘usual’ cancellations to increasing on-time performance to make true its vision of becoming an airline of choice that exceeds customers’ expectations so as to provide reliable, safe and sustainable high quality airline services globally.

He said the revamping that started with purchasing new planes is going on well with new marketing strategies and recruitment of new staff as it is also seeking to regain its membership with the International Air Transport Association (IATA) that it lost about 10 years ago. IATA is a trade association of the world’s airlines consisting of 278 airlines, primarily major carriers, representing 117 countries.

TATO Chairman, Mr Wilbald Chambulo said they are ready to support ATCL’s course though still a lot has to be done to boost tourism including the national flag carrier to initiate routes around the national parks to ease the challenges tourists and TATO currently face.

“If you say about 80 per cent of your passengers are tourists then you should be at the respective points in a duration that does not exceed one hour.

“The charges as of now are very high; flying from Serengeti to Selous by small aircrafts is more than 400 US dollars while from Dar es Salaam to Dubai is [almost the same].

He said that TATO could as well support the airline industry by putting tarmac in some airfields. The Eastern Sun Tours Marketing Director, Ms Mary Laizer said they were experiencing hardship in the business due to lack of reliable local aircrafts which stands as a challenge to boost tourism unless proper measurers are taken.

She said routes are needed at Mugumu, Kogatende, Selou, Ruaha and generally around national parks and other tourism attractions.