The first batch of over 150 Israeli tourists would land tomorrow at the Kilimanjaro International Airport (KIA). PHOTO " FILE
Dar es Salaam. Over 650 Israeli tourists are expected to visit Tanzania in August, pointing signs of the industry recovery from the effect of Covid-19.
The chairman of the Tanzania Tourist Board (TTB), Judge (retired) Thomas Mihayo, said starting tomorrow Tanzania will receive visitors in groups.
He made the statement yesterday while speaking to reporters, saying that their visit to the country had been prompted by the government’s stand on how to encounter Covid-19, whose vaccine had started being administered to different groups of people in the country.
According to the Board chairman, the first batch of over 150 Israeli tourists would land tomorrow at the Kilimanjaro International Airport (KIA) in Kilimanjaro Region and received by Natural Resources and Tourism minister Damas Ndumbaro.
“The first batch will stay in the country until August 9 and as they prepare to leave, another batch of more than 200 tourists will arrive and stay until August 16. On August 10 another group of over 150 will land in Zanzibar,” according to Judge Mihayo.
He went on to explain that on August 17 the last group of more than 200 tourists will land at KIA, whereby he said a big percentage of the tourists will visit Ngorongoro, Tarangire and Serengeti national parks as well as Mt Kilimanjaro.
Judge Mihayo noted that, before the scheduled visit by the 600 tourists, on July 20, this year, at least 200 tourists from Israel arrived in Zanzibar for a rest to view beaches and visit different areas of attraction.
“The scheduled visit by the tourists is the good sign of our nation to continue to be trusted with its different efforts that it makes so to ensure that all the areas of service provision to tourists observe Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) against coronavirus infections,” said Mihayo.
Tourism was the leading foreign earner but its earnings reduced from $2.6 billion in 2019 to $1 billion in 2010, according to the Bank of Tanzania.
Judge Mihayo also said the visits were a unique opportunity, explaining that the people of Israel had the habit of visiting the country’s tourist attractions in groups whenever they got that opportunity.
“These are great achievements of receiving such groups of tourists in one period and the exciting thing is how the Israelis have chosen to visit Tanzania in the midst of the coronavirus that troubles the world,” said Judge Mihayo.
He also said their visit at this time showed and reflected on a positive image to the world and proof that Tanzania is a safe country to visit even though at this time in which the world struggles to tackle coronavirus.
He added that there had been a good response by the Israelis to view Tanzania as one of attractive countries in Africa, where they continue to visit Tanzania’s national parks, the Indian Ocean and Unguja and Pemba Islands.
“We are proud to see the number of tourists from Israeli visiting our country continued to increase from 2,805 in 2010 to 36,640 in 2017,” said Judge Mihayo.
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