Arusha — Hotels and
lodges in Arusha Region are cashing in on a rare boom in business not
seen for years - thanks to dozens of high-profile scheduled conferences.
From the Ngurdoto
Mountain Lodge - until recently virtually deserted - to newly-opened
outfits in
town, it's all brisk business as hundreds of delegates
descend upon the metropolis that is also the hub of the world-famous
Northern Tourist Circuit in Tanzania
"For the first time
in a long time, we are seeing our rooms occupancy rates shoot upwards
of 50 per cent," said Paul Madinda, general manager of the towering
Palace Hotel in the heart of the city.
He said for the
last four years or so, the average room occupancy had hardly exceeded 30
per cent, indicating a sharp decline in the hospitality business.
The 200-room hotel
near the landmark Clock Tower mostly hosts business travellers and, at
times, delegates to meetings of the East African Community (EAC) whose
headquarters is in Arusha.
Mr Madinda was
upbeat about the inflow of visitors, saying it was a boom for hotels and
lodges which had been severely hit by business decline from 2016.
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A random survey by
The Citizen showed that the city had been flooded with visitors
beginning two weeks ago - with indications that the trend would continue
until the second week of December.
The influx of
mostly conference delegates has posed a challenge to both hotel
operators and conference organizers who had to jostle for the available
meeting halls.
The Corridor Spring
hotel - recently dormant businesswise - was a hive of activity from
Monday as some conference organizers seeking accommodation for their
delegates were turned away.
"Because we were
fully booked, we directed them to other hotels nearby, including Kibo
Palace and Gold Crest," an official of the outfit said on Wednesday.
The hotel was
brimming with guests as it hosted a regional conference for civil
society organizations - and another one for local dentists.
The situation was
virtually replicated at the 40-year old Mt. Meru Hotel and the
recently-opened five-star Gran Melia on the leafy suburbs of Arusha.
The latter is the
newest hospitality establishment with all state-of-the-art facilities
befitting a tourism hub and conference city.
Since its recent
opening, it had hosted a series of high-profile meetings - and is the
venue of the EAC Business and Investments Summit which kicked off in
Arusha on Thursday. The meeting, organized by the East African Business
Council (EABC), was expected to host at least 500 delegates, including
CEOs from corporate bodies in the region.
Mount Meru -
another top-notch hotel with a golf course - has remained on the radar,
with regional and international meetings filling most of its rooms.
This week, it was
the venue of a regional (EAC) tourism forum organized ahead of
yesterday's business summit, as well as a conference of animal health
researchers.
Another hotel. the
'Four Points by Sheraton' - commonly known simply as the Arusha Hotel -
is the oldest hotel in town, and retains its Victorian-style
architecture.
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