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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Tanzania: Samia Hands Over NBC’s 354m/ – Crop Insurance Compensation to Farmers Affected By Hailstorms
President Samia Suluhu Hassan, has handed over a cheque of 354m/- from the National Bank of Commerce (NBC) as compensation to tobacco farmers, who were affected by hailstorms during the previous farming season in various regions across the country.
Handing over the cheque in Dodoma, the compensation is part of the crop insurance service provided by NBC in collaboration with the National Insurance Corporation (NIC).
Furthermore, President Samia has also handed over health insurance coverage to members of the Lindi Mwambao Cooperative Union based in Lindi Region, through the Farmers’ Health Insurance service provided by the bank in partnership with Assurance Insurance Company.
While visiting the bank’s pavilion at the Nanenane Agricultural Exhibition and being received and briefed by the bank’s Managing Director, Mr. Theobald Sabi, she said: “This crop insurance is one of the crucial solutions in ensuring farmers have a reliable income, without fear of challenges such as natural disasters, including hailstorms.
“I call upon all farmers in the country to make the best use of this important opportunity by accessing these kinds of insurance services. I also highly commend NBC and all the stakeholders participating in this programme.”
Elaborating further on the crop insurance service, the Minister of Agriculture, Hussein Bashe, stated that it will help to recover the loss farmers incurred, especially in various calamities beyond their control.
Citing them as floods, fires, and hailstorms, which have significantly affected the well-being of farmers and caused some to be reluctant to invest in the crucial sector, Mr Bashe added: “However, our President, this step by NBC is just the beginning, as this is the second year since they started offering this service, and the results are already visible.
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“As the government, we promise to continue supporting the wider implementation of this service, with the goal of ensuring that this crop insurance service reaches more farmers.”
ALSO READ: NBC participates in TFF 2023/24 awards, promises to enhance competition
On his part, Mr Sabi said that the farmers who benefited from the compensations are from 23 primary cooperative unions in the regions of Shinyanga, Geita, Tabora, Mbeya, Katavi, and Kigoma.
He added: “In addition to these insurance services, as a bank, through this exhibition, we have continued with our programme of providing financial education and various banking opportunities to farmers, alongside offering them various loans, including loans for agricultural equipment, particularly tractors, to eligible farmers.:
At the NBC booth, President Samia also had the opportunity to be briefed on the various services offered by the bank to the farmers namely crop insurance and health insurance services.
There, the President had the chance to speak with some of the beneficiaries of the services, including the Vice-Chairman of the Lindi Mwambao Primary Cooperative Union, Mr. Hassan Mnumbe, whose union has been provided with a health insurance card from the bank.
Source: allafrica.com
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