AT least 1,180 tourists from Eastern Europe landed at Zanzibar's Abeid Amani Karume International Airport on Saturday, recording an increase of visitors in the Isles since the outbreak of Covid-19.
The tourists, aboard Azur, and Royal airline - charter flights were from Uzbekistan (400 tourists), Ukraine (250 tourists), and Russia (537).
They were warmly welcomed by the government authorities led by the Tourism Commission of Zanzibar (TCZ) Director Dr Abdalla Mohamed.
"We should be happy with the increasing number of tourists after the ease of covid-19 in our country. We expect more tourists to arrive in the country as days pass, I can assure the public that the business is getting back to normal," said Mr Mohamed.
The Deputy Chairman of Tourism Commission of Zanzibar, Mr Khamis Mbeto Khamis told the 'Daily News' that on October 24, a total of 180 tourists arrived from Poland, followed by 250 tourists from Ukraine two days later, on October 28 a total of 400 tourists and 350 others arrived from Russia and Ukraine respectively.
"Everyone in Zanzibar must be happy with this development. Tour operators, taxi drivers, suppliers of commodities, Hoteliers and their staff are getting back to work. Also our local flights are also busy flying tourists to Tanzania mainland's National Parks," said Mr Khamis.
The TCZ chairman attributed the improvement to the ongoing global advertisements on tourism attractions in Tanzania considering the measures taken by the country in combating Covid-19.
"We are a free Covid-19 nation, this is well explained and understood by tourists across the World," he noted.
He said since the resume of tourists business in June, this year, the government came up with workable strategies with tourist operators, and also wrote to Tanzania ambassadors to various countries to implement a special work plan for promoting the sector.
"We also had an Italian ambassador to Tanzania to confirm that all is good in the country. Over 60 per cent of tourists' visiting Zanzibar is from Italy," he said.
Mr Khamis said that the target is to record 800,000 tourists' arrival by 2025 as it appears in the Chama Cha Mapiduzi (CCM) manifesto, but if all goes well, he said the target will be met within one year.
On average tourists spend five to eight days in the country, and in addition to spending, they pay 50 US dollar on arrival. He said this week, about 350 tourists are expected to arrive in the country from South Africa followed by 550 others from Russia.
Mr Abdalla Ali Hassan Mwinyi, one of the tourists' operators here and Members of the Parliament-Elect for Mahonda commented said: "this is an indication that our future is bright,". He asked wananchi to maintain peace and stability to pave way for tourism growth."
The outgoing Minister for Information, Tourism, and Heritage Mr Mahmoud Thabit said tourism is one of most important industries, employing 60,000 people, supporting economic growth and building the country's image.
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