Swahili international tourism expo slated for Dar next year

 By The guardian reporter

31st December 2013

Tanzania Tourists Board (TTB)

The Tanzania Tourists Board (TTB) has announced new dates for the Swahili International Tourism expo (SITE) to be held in Dar es Salaam late next year.
According to TTB Managing Director Dr Aloyce Nzuki, the expo would be held in Dar es Salaam from October 1 to 4, 2014.

He said due to the overwhelmingly positive response that TTB has received from exhibitors regarding their participation they find they have insufficient time to match the enthusiasm with the required number of visitors and hosted buyers “which indeed form the winning combination to hosting a successful tourism expo.”

TTB has been working with an agency in the US and Australia quite successfully and intends to appoint similar agencies in India, China and Germany within the next 3 months.

The board’s core focus apart from marketing the destination will specifically centre on the recruitment of high calibre hosted buyers that are strategic to East Africa and the development of tourism business, he said, adding that this will most certainly lead to an increased number of hotel occupancy.

“This strategy is on its way to taking legs; however it is nowhere near to delivering on the number of hosted buyers that are required for S!TE 2013m,” he said.

“It is for this reason that the Tanzanian Tourists Board has decided to postpone the expo to October 1 – 4, 2014. It will give all stakeholders sufficient time to deliver on an exhibition which is sure to be hailed as the game changer for tourism within the East African Region in the future,: he added.

Furthermore, he said S!TE has embarked on launching exciting new exhibition offerings at discounted prices between 40 – 60 percent to all new and existing applicants.

In a move to lure more tourists in Tanzania, the government in collaboration with the private sector has recently entered into agreement with diplomats from various embassies to promote Tanzania’s tourist attractions in their respective countries.

The parties reached consensus after approving an international marketing strategy which was presented by TTB and Tourism Confederation of Tanzania (TCT), whose aim was to obtain a helping hand to boost the sector in the next five years.

The diplomats pledged to promote Tanzania as a tourist and exceptional tourist destination in their respective countries.

The embassy representatives were from major tourist source markets for Tanzania that include Italy, Canada, Spain, France, UK, German, the US, The Netherlands, Australia, South Africa, China, Turkey, India, Russia, Brazil and the Gulf countries.

TTB and TCT’s decision to present the international marketing strategy to diplomats stems from the need to bolster collaboration with the embassies so as to woo more tourists from their countries to explore Tanzania by exchanging strategies. 

SOURCE: THE GUARDIAN