Tourists visit a tourist attraction in Zanzibar. PHOTO | FILE
Dar es Salaam. The President of Zanzibar, Dr Hussein Ali Mwinyi, said yesterday that his administration is now shifting focus from mass to quality tourism as it targets wealthy visitors.
In 2020, Zanzibar received 528,425 tourists who earned the country a total of $426 million in foreign exchange.
Tourism accounted for 82.1 percent of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in Zanzibar whereby an average of ten new hotels were being built in the Isles each year at an average cost of $30 million each.
Data from the Hotel Association Zanzibar (HAZ) show that the amount that each tourist spends in the Isles has also gone up from an average of $80 per day in 2015 to $206 in 2020.
But the situation could improve further with President Mwinyi telling journalists yesterday that more was to be expected from his government’s strategic tourism policy.
Speaking yesterday at the Zanzibar State House during his first monthly press briefing, Dr Mwinyi said the government decided to lease some islets to wealthy individuals in an effort to reform the tourism sector. He said the strategic tourism has seen 10 Islets already leased out, generating $15 million, saying the 10 other Islets have been released for lease.
“The government is expecting more money from the Islets released for about 33 years. Hopefully, the country is expected to generate more money from this initiative compared to the past. Part of the money will be used for relocation of citizens who have been living and conducting economic activities in the Islets,” he said.
“These efforts are expected to strengthen and attract a few but spending tourists instead of the mass tourists who are not spending instead of adversely destroying the environment,” he said.
Dr Mwinyi also outlined the multi-million projects to construct modern markets for petty traders, as he spoke tough on discovered incidents of economic sabotage.
He said his government was implementing projects to construct four market facilities for petty traders in the Darajani Corridor, Mwanakwerekwe, Jumbi and Chuini through the partnership between local authorities and foreign firms.
The eight phase Zanzibar’s president allayed fears relocated citizens that they will be given other accommodation and business places, noting that they will be given a priority when distributing business stalls once the projects have been completed.
“Alongside these projects, citizens with economic capabilities are allowed to revamp their houses and business facilities at the Mji Mkongwe in order to increase their life span for the next 100 years as well as attract more tourists,” he said. According to him, those lacking economic capabilities should allow the government to carry the renovations and that they will be relocated to other places and be given areas to carry their businesses.
Furthermore, he revealed the theft of copper wires at one of the water pumping station in the Isles, therefore adversely affecting availability of important liquid for the life of people, plants and animals.
He said in a similar incident, copper wires at the Daraja Bovu area was stolen by unscrupulous people, turning the area into complete darkness.
“These are incidents of economic sabotage because despite of affecting the economy, they cause inconveniences to the population. I instruct defense and security forces to arrest perpetrators and bring them to justice,” he said, adding. “From now on, all places with similar projects should be provided with security and that both thieves and buyers should be dealt accordingly,”
Dr Mwinyi said following the sabotage against strategic project, his government was considering banning scrap metal business in the Isles.
Regarding cases that have been investigated by the Zanzibar Anti-corruption and Economic Crimes Authority (Zaeca), Dr Mwinyi said they were at the final stages of investigations.
“When investigations are completed, the files will be submitted to the Director of Public Prosecution (DPP) who will establish whether there is tangible evidence on which to file cases. Therefore, if that is established, such suspects will start appearing in court,” he said.
Responding to the question on hiking food prices in the Isles, Dr Mwinyi said his government would continue to control the situation by setting indicative prices.
The President disagreed that referred reasons of tax and government decisions to be among causes of escalated prices.
“Tax is not the cause. The price of sugar per tonne, for instance, has increased in manufacturing foreign countries from $400 to $700. Likewise, transportation charges per container has jumped from an average of $3000- $3500 to about $16,000.”
Reasons such as this forces importers to raise price and affect retail prices,” he said.
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