How Sh90 billion for tourism revival split key Ppayers
Nearly $39 — 2 million (about Sh90 billion) of funds allocated by the government to mitigate the adverse impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the travel and tourism industry has starkly divided key stakeholders over priority investment areas.
The funds are part of the $567.25 million loan approved in September by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to support Tanzania in responding to the pandemic by addressing health, humanitarian, and economic effects.
While the Ministry of Natural Resources and Tourism has allocated the lion's share of the money to repair hard infrastructure, and procure new soft infrastructures, private players have faulted this, saying it wouldn't yield the envisaged outcomes.
A fortnight ago, the Minister for Natural Resources and Tourism, Dr Damas Ndumbaro, issued a statement highlighting a number of projects where the money would be invested in to revive the tourism industry hobbled by the Covid-19 pandemic.
Dr Ndumbaro said projects to be implemented include renovation of infrastructures, installation of security systems and purchase of mobile test kits for testing Covid-19 infections among tourists.
"These projects will simplify access to different tourist attractions, rollout of new tourism products to diversify tourism activities to capture the emerging tourist market and subsequently revive the tourism industry," Dr Ndumbaro noted in a statement.
