Dar es Salaam. The ministry of Natural Resources and Tourism intends to allocate Sh1 billion towards the development of an online safari booking system.
This initiative aims to address loopholes that have led to revenue losses within the sector.
Requesting the Parliament to approve the Sh348.125 billion budget for the 2024/25 fiscal year, the minister for Natural Resources and Tourism, Angellah Kairuki, said part of the development funds from domestic sources would be used for the project, to be known officially as the Tanzania Safari Online Booking System.
“The funds will be used for designing, construction, testing, system upgrading, training, and maintenance, as well as improvements,” Ms Kairuki told MPs as she tabled the budget in Parliament on Friday, May 31, 2024.
Tanzania received a total of $3.4 billion from travel receipts in 2023, an increase of 36 percent compared to the same period in 2022.
The plan is to earn $6 billion in receipts from five million tourist arrivals by 2025. About 1,808,205 million tourists visited Tanzania in 2023.
However, there have been concerns that only a portion of tourism earnings are retained in Tanzania, with the rest either repatriated overseas or remaining overseas.
This is because many tourists pay for their travel arrangements with global tour companies, arrive in the country and depart using international airlines, and stay in all-inclusive hotels and resorts owned by foreign investors.
An analysis by the Africa Project Research Institute shows that African countries retain only approximately 20–45 percent of the total holiday packages.
As a result, despite a rise in both tourism earnings and arrivals, communities living near tourist sites have continued to live in poverty.
How the Tanzania Safari Online Booking System will address this discrepancy is yet to be confirmed.
However, the ministry of Natural Resources and Tourism has other online portals, such as the MNRT Portal, for the collection of revenue and other charges.
The Sh348.125 billion that Ms Kairuki requested the Parliament approve is 46.5 percent less than the Sh654.6 billion approved for recurrent and development projects in 2023/24.
She named other development projects to be implemented by the ministry in the 2024/25 financial year, with their budget estimates in brackets: Public Finance Management and Reform Programme VI (Sh1.50 billion), Resilient Natural Resources Management for Tourism and Growth Project-REGROW (Sh40.97 billion), capacity building in game reserves (Sh1.124 billion), and combating poaching and illegal wildlife trade in Tanzania (Sh3.66 billion).
Others are capacity building in forestry and beekeeping (Sh92.67 million), support for the Beekeeping Value Chain Programme (BEVAC) (Sh1.59 billion), food systems, land use, and restoration projects (FOLUR) (Sh2.48 billion), the MICE Tourism Development Project (Sh432.47 million), the construction of presidential museums (Sh1 billion), and a project to build capacity and strengthen the National College of Tourism (Sh2.76 billion).
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Air Tanzania Banned From EU Airspace Due to Safety Concerns
Several airports have since locked Air Tanzania, dealing a severe blow to the Tanzanian national carrier that must now work overtime to regain its certification or go the wet lease way
The European Commission has announced the inclusion of Air Tanzania on the EU Air Safety List, effectively banning the airline from operating in European airspace.
The decision, made public on December 16, 2024, is based on safety concerns identified by the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA), which also led to the denial of Air Tanzania’s application for a Third Country Operator (TCO) authorisation.
The Commission did not go into the specifics of the safety infringement but industry experts suggest it is possible that the airline could have flown its Airbus A220 well past its scheduled major checks, thus violating the airworthiness directives.
“The decision to include Air Tanzania in the EU Air Safety List underscores our unwavering commitment to ensuring the highest safety standards for passengers in Europe and worldwide,” said Apostolos Tzitzikostas, EU Commissioner for Sustainable Transport and Tourism.
“We strongly urge Air Tanzania to take swift and decisive action to address these safety issues. I have offered the Commission’s assistance to the Tanzanian authorities in enhancing Air Tanzania’s safety performance and achieving full compliance with international aviation standards.”
Air Tanzania has a mixed fleet of modern aircraft types including Boeing 787s, 737 Max jets, and Airbus A220s.
It has been flying the B787 Dreamliner to European destinations like Frankfurt in Germany and Athens in Greece and was looking to add London to its growing list with the A220.
But the ban not only scuppers the London dream but also has seen immediate ripple effect, with several airports – including regional like Kigali and continental – locking out Air Tanzania.
Tanzania operates KLM alongside the national carrier.
The European Commission said Air Tanzania may be permitted to exercise traffic rights by using wet-leased aircraft of an air carrier which is not subject to an operating ban, provided that the relevant safety standards are complied with.
A wet lease is where an airline pays to use an aircraft with a crew, fuel, and insurance all provided by the leasing company at a fee.
Two more to the list
The EU Air Safety List, maintained to ensure passenger safety, is updated periodically based on recommendations from the EU Air Safety Committee.
The latest revision, which followed a meeting of aviation safety experts in Brussels from November 19 to 21, 2024, now includes 129 airlines.
Of these, 100 are certified in 15 states where aviation oversight is deemed insufficient, and 29 are individual airlines with significant safety deficiencies.
Alongside Air Tanzania, other banned carriers include Air Zimbabwe (Zimbabwe), Avior Airlines (Venezuela), and Iran Aseman Airlines (Iran).
Commenting on the broader implications of the list, Tzitzikostas stated, “Our priority remains the safety of every traveler who relies on air transport. We urge all affected airlines to take these bans seriously and work collaboratively with international bodies to resolve the identified issues.”
In a positive development, Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) has been cleared to resume operations in the EU following a four-year suspension. The ban, which began in 2020, was lifted after substantial improvements in safety performance and oversight by PIA and the Pakistan Civil Aviation Authority (PCAA).
“Since the TCO Authorisation was suspended, PIA and PCAA have made remarkable progress in enhancing safety standards,” noted Tzitzikostas. “This demonstrates that safety issues can be resolved through determination and cooperation.”
Another Pakistani airline, Airblue Limited, has also received EASA’s TCO authorisation.
Decisions to include or exclude airlines from the EU Air Safety List are based on rigorous evaluations of international safety standards, particularly those established by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO).
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The process involves thorough review and consultation among EU Member State aviation safety experts, with oversight from the European Commission and support from EASA.
“Where an airline currently on the list believes it complies with the required safety standards, it can request a reassessment,” explained Tzitzikostas. “Our goal is not to penalize but to ensure safety compliance globally.”
Airlines listed on the EU Air Safety List face significant challenges to their international operations, as the bans highlight shortcomings in safety oversight by their home regulatory authorities.
For Air Tanzania, this inclusion signals an urgent need for reform within Tanzania’s aviation sector to address these deficiencies and align with global standards.
The path forward will require immediate and sustained efforts to rectify safety concerns and regain access to one of the world’s most critical aviation markets.
Source: allafrica.com
