DEVELOPMENT OF CULTURAL HERITAGE TOURISM IN DAR ES
SALAAM CITY CENTRE: DEMAND PERSPECTIVE
*Mr. Lwoga, N.B. and Dr. Kessy, E.T.
Department of History and Archaeology,
University of Dar es Salaam,
P.O. Box 35050, Dar es Salaam
*Email: [email protected]
ABSTRACT
Most cities in sub-Sahara Africa are rich in
terms of cultural heritage assets but yet, fail
to attract, retain and satisfy cultural tourists.
With a focus on Dar es Salaam city centre,
this study aimed at analyzing demand for
cultural heritage tourism with a view of
providing proper recommendations for the
development of cultural heritage tourist
destinations from the demand perspective.
Data collection involved both open and
closed questionnaire, documentary review
and personal observation of cultural heritage,
followed by quantitative and qualitative
analysis. Geographical and psychological
analytical approaches were also used in
order to grasp tourists’ perceptions in
relation to their area of origin and
experience. Results indicate that there are
several opportunities that could promote Dar
es Salaam city from a tourists’ gateway to
primary
tourists’
destination.
Key
recommendations,
including
the
development of tourist zones and itinerary
based on tourist perspectives and
recommendations for further investigations
are put forward.
Keywords: Urban tourism, cultural heritage
tourism, tourism demand, cultural heritage
asset, Dar es Salaam tourism
1.0
INTRODUCTION
All cities in the world that have decided to
develop cultural heritage tourism have to
listen to, adhere and satisfy tourists’ needs or
the demand (Vukonić and Tkalac: 1984).
However, while most cities in sub-Sahara
Africa promote cultural heritage tourism, the
demand for such type of tourism remains
blurred (Wight et al: 2005). Although the
study of urban tourism and tourists is a
growing area of research in Europe, America
and Asia, very little urban tourism research
has been done in sub-Sahara Africa. In
addition, wherever attempts have been done
on the subject matter, very little effort has
been placed on studies that focus on demand
for urban cultural heritage tourism (see for
example, Marks: 1996; and Wight et al:
2005).
Lack of understanding of demand for
cultural heritage tourism is one of the main
causes for city’s failure to satisfy tourists,
thus leading to unsustainable city tourism.
For instance, cities such as Dar es Salaam
have not succeeded in building up a creative
environment that encourages tourists to
extend their stay and expenditure in the city
(Wight et al: 2005). Despite its richness in
historical buildings, the city has for long
remained as the tourists’ gateway to remote
coastal, southern and northern tourist circuits
(ibid.). Only a thorough analysis of demand
in relation to elements of cultural heritage
tourism supply will enable such cities to
properly develop cultural heritage tourism
that satisfies cultural tourist needs. This
study, therefore, aimed at analyzing the
demand for cultural heritage tourism in cities
of sub-Sahara Africa with the view of
recommending demand-based measures for
cultural heritage tourism development with a
special focus on Dar es Salaam city.
Information generated by this study are
useful to city tourism planners and tourism
policy makers of Dar es Salaam and related
cities in sub-Sahara Africa facing same
problems
in
developing
tourism.
Furthermore, the study improves our
understanding of cultural heritage tourism
development in cities. In addition, the study
throws lights on the efficacy of demand
approach in the planning urban tourism. In
this study, the term “cultural heritage
tourism” is used to refer to movements of
people in response to cultural motivations
such as visiting historic sites and
monuments,
museums,
landmarks,
architectural and archaeological treasures,
experiencing performing arts and cultural
festivals and other cultural events
(McKercher and du Cros: 2002).
Tourism in Tanzania, in general, generated
United States Dollars (USD) 1,269.68
million from 770,376 tourist arrivals to the
country in 2008 (United Republic of
Tanzania - URT: 2009). Despite apparent
growth in tourism industry, the sector has
traditionally relied solely on wildlife and
other natural heritage assets found in the
sub-urban and rural areas of the country. It
was only at the end of the 1990s that cultural
heritage in urban areas started to be
prioritized in tourism plans (URT: 1999).
Consequently, in early 2000, the government
through Dar es Salaam City Council (DCC)
started to develop tourism in Dar es Salaam
city. With the assistance of the International
Centre for Sustainable City (ICSC) and
PLUS Network (Canada), the DCC initiated
tourism development strategies such as
organizing
stakeholders
workshops.
Coincidentally, during the same time the
private
sector
through
Tourism
Confederation of Tanzania (TCT) formed
the Dar es Salaam Tourism Advisory
Council (DTAC) to lead tourism visioning
processes. The efforts led to the formation of
Dar es Salaam Tourism Executive Board
(DTEB) in 2007. The objectives for
developing tourism in the city includes, to
increase the length of tourist stay and
expenditure in the city, to conserve urban
heritage, to diversify country’s tourist
product, to bring opportunities for socioeconomic development and city regeneration
(Wight et al: 2005).
Despite such efforts to develop urban
tourism in Dar es Salaam, there has been no
improvement in tourist’s length of stay in the
country
(URT,
2010).
Furthermore,
conservation of cultural heritage in the city
is still very poor, a situation that limits city’s
attractiveness (Lwoga: 2010a). This taken as
an example explains why tourist’s flow to
cultural heritage sites in Dar es Salaam city
is low in relation to the number of visitors
who disembark at the Julius Nyerere
International Airport (JNIA) and Ubungo
Bus Terminal (UBT) (ibid.). Consequently,
the city continues to be tourists’ gateway to
remote coastal areas, Zanzibar, Southern and
Northern circuits (Wight et al: 2005). In
general, Dar es Salaam remains a tourist’s
gateway not because it lacks attractive
tourist sites, but due to the fact that the city’s
heritage assets and other elements of cultural
heritage tourism supply are not appropriately
poised to take best advantage of visitors
(ibid.). The city, therefore, provides a good
context for this study.
2.0
LITERATURE REVIEW
Studies on urban tourism in cities of Europe
and America by scholars such as Ashworth
(1992), Henderson (2001), McKercher and
du Cros (2002), Russo and Van der Borg
(2002) provide reasons why Tanzania should
take trouble in understanding cultural
heritage
tourism
issues
and
their
contributions in urban centers. The economic
decline of the cities in the United Kingdom
(UK), Western Europe and Northern
America in the late 1970s made tourism to
become a catalyst to boost urban economies
(Ashworth: 1992). Today, many European
cities have invested in cultural heritage
tourism as a strategic sector for socioeconomic development (Russo and Van der
Borg: 2002). This indicates that heritage
tourism can be a mean to manage change
and transition of city functions, and then
expanded to become the principal sector in
city’s economies (ibid.). In addition, while
historic cities and their built heritage are
excellent laboratories for understanding
crucial issues of power structures, social
relations, and relationships between man and
his environment, cultural heritage tourism is
a vehicle from which the public and visitors
learn such issues (Henderson: 2001;
McKercher and du Cros: 2002). With such
appreciated significance of tourism in urban
environments, urban tourism has indeed
emerged as an important area of study
(Pearce: 2001). However, demand for
tourism in cities, particularly in sub-Sahara
Africa, is taken for granted and not well
studied
(Edwards
et
al:
2008).
Understanding demand for tourism in cities
was identified by Edwards et al (2008) as the
most crucial research agenda in urban
tourism studies; in particular, in informing
key industry functions which serve the
tourist’s needs and meet their expectations.
In general, the crucial means by which
cultural heritage tourism can be developed to
satisfy tourists in cities is to understand and
address the demand (Vukonić and Tkalac:
1984). Analyzing demand for tourism is the
process of establishing the reason why
cultural tourism develops in a given city and
why tourists choose to visit the place or
region (Hall and Page: 2002; Page and Hall:
2003). According to Law (1996) major
reasons for people’s visit to cities include: (i)
the experience of cultural heritage assets
such as old built heritage, museums,
gardens, old and modern streets or buildings,
diverse cultural and traditional backgrounds
and state sites; (ii) the presence of reliable
communication facilities including transport
and phone, and, (iii) the presence of large
stock of social facilities that can serve
people from a variety of backgrounds and
interests such as entertainment and business
centers, conference and seminar halls. (Law:
1996). Jansen-Verbeke and Lievois (2003)
considered such reasons as cultural tourism
supply elements that must be supplied to
satisfy tourists at the destination. JansenVerbeke (1986) classified elements of
tourism supply in cities into three key
categories: (i) primary elements – these
include cultural and natural tourism
attractions; (ii) secondary elements- these
include services and facilities such as
catering facilities and shopping facilities;
(iii) conditional elements such as transport
and parking facilities, information service,
signposts and labels, and tour guides. In their
study, Russo and Van der Borg (2002) found
that the elements are crucial preconditions
for effective tourism development in cities of
Lisbon, Lyon, Turin and Rotterdam.
Development of cultural heritage assets as
part of elements of city tourism supply that
can satisfy the demand is problematic to
most cities of sub-Sahara Africa. Ruetsche
(2006) provided tourist zone or district
model for organizing and developing
cultural heritage assets in cities. The tourist
zone model assumes that cultural heritage
activities should be clustered in one location
in the city. The zones act can as a strategy to
attract tourists and provide better amenities
and enable tourists to move easily from one
attraction to another. For instance, in
Baltimore, the harbor was planned with three
attractions such as an aquarium, a science
museum and viewing platform at the top of
the World Trade Center, forming a tourist’s
zone (Ruetsche: 2006). Apart from the
formation of tourist zones, Russo and Van
der Bord (2002) and Maitland (2006) added
the integration between the public and
private sectors as well as other stakeholders
as a crucial issue towards satisfying tourism
demand. These concepts were adopted in
this study in analyzing demand for cultural
heritage tourism and informing possible
measures that Dar es Salaam can take to
develop urban tourism.
Tourism research in Tanzania indicates that
the coast and littoral parts of the country
including Dar es Salaam have not received
adequate attention in comparison to northern
Tanzania. The only known piece of work in
this poorly attended area is that of Wight et
al (2005) as tourism consultants to the city
council. This work aimed at providing an
expert evaluation of city’s overall tourism
product, with a view to recommending
measures that were likely to retain tourists
and increase tourist spending. They
recognized the significance of using demand
approach in achieving their research aim.
The recommendations of the this study
throw lights on how the tourism product
should be developed and matched with the
demand. However, the research methods
used did not take into account tourists’
perceptions and views about tourism supply
of the city, but merely relied on documentary
review and interviews with tourism
stakeholders than tourists. While it is known
that every city has its unique characteristics
that may have implications to the way
tourists perceive tourism industry as a
whole, very little has been done in that
respect (Timothy and Boyd: 2003). With a
special focus on Dar es Salaam city, this
study, therefore, aimed at filling such gaps.
3.0
METHODOLOGY
The descriptive study adopted geographical
and psychological approaches in the analysis
of tourism demand, in particular, in the
categorization of tourists’ perceptions on
cultural
tourism
supply
elements.
Geographical approach considered the
origin, nationality and such demographic
features as age group of tourists (Page and
Hall: 2003). Psychological approach
considered the purpose of visit, perceptions
of tourists on key cultural tourism supply
elements (ibid.) such as cultural heritage
attractions, tour guiding service, tourist
information service, and street and attraction
signs and labels.
The study used mainly quantitative research
methods. Simple random sampling was
employed in the selection of 219
international tourists who accepted to
respond at the Julius Nyerere International
Airport (JNIA) and Dar-Zanzibar port
terminal. Focus on international tourists was
preferred because they have wider
experience on other major cities, and are in
better position to provide comments on
cultural heritage tourism in Dar es Salaam
city in relation to other cities they have
visited. The international tourist criteria are
based on the definition of tourist of the
United Nations-World Tourism Organization
and the 1993 United Nations statistical
conventions as explained by Cooper (2005).
The respondents were asked questions by
researchers with the aid of a questionnaire.
The questionnaire was composed of profile
questions aimed at understanding the
mentioned
tourist
geographical
and
demographic characteristics and their
purpose of visit. It was also composed of
questions that required tourists to rate
tourism supply elements as excellent, good,
moderate or sub-standard. Furthermore, the
questionnaire had open ended questions that
asked tourists to provide reasons for their
rating, their general views on how cultural
heritage tourism can be improved. In
addition, anecdotal evidence, documentary
review and personal observation of cultural
heritage assets in Dar es Salaam city were
used to compliment on the information
obtained from the questionnaire. Data were
input and analyzed by using the Microsoft
Excel Programme which provided a platform
for simple descriptive analysis and data
display into tables, percentages and graphs.
4.0
Cultural
Heritage
Tourism
Development in Dar es Salaam City
Centre
Dar es Salaam region is located between
latitudes 6.36° and 7.0° south of the Equator,
and longitudes 39.0° and 33.33° to the east
of Greenwich. It is bordered by the Indian
Ocean to the east and by the Coast Region
on all the other sides. The total surface area
is 1,800 square kilometers comprising 1,393
square kilometers of land mass with eight
offshore islands. There are three districts in
Dar es Salaam region. These include
Temeke which has the largest land surface
area (652 square kilometers) followed by
Kinondoni (531 square kilometers) and Ilala
with the smallest area of 210 square
kilometers (DCC, 2004). Dar es Salaam city
centre (Figure 1) is the largest and oldest city
in Tanzania with about 2.8 million people
(DCC, 2004). It is the most important city
for industry, manufacturing, business, social
facilities
and
government
activities.
Inhabitants of the city engage in diverse
economic activities such as business,
employees of the government and private
institutions, industries while a few are
peasants.
Figure 1. Dar es Salaam City Centre
Source: Lwoga (2010b)
Dar es Salaam city has an astonishing
history and tourism potentials. Most scholars
agree that Dar es Salaam came-up in
1862/65 with the coming of Sultan Seyyid
Majid in unoccupied areas south-west of
Mzizima village, and later grew to engulf
other forerunner settlements such as
Kunduchi and Msasani (Sutton: 1970; Mturi:
1982; Schotsman: 2003; Brennan and
Burton: 2007). The area has also been
inhabited since around 1,500 years ago by
Bantu-speakers evidenced by concentration
of pottery known by Archaeologists as
Triangular Incised Ware (Mapunda: 2010).
The Sultan’s wish to get away from stressing
affairs at his court of Zanzibar (Schotsman:
2003) gave the area the name ‘Dar es
Salaam’ from ‘Bandar-ul-Salaam’, meaning
the house or land of peace for the Sultan’s
retreat (Allen: 1945). Before his death in
1870 in Zanzibar, Sultan had constructed
several architectural buildings in Dar es
Salaam. These included his palace at the
south-western extremity of the front (Sutton:
1970), the double-storeyed building known
as ‘Old Boma’, a commercial building, the
White
Father’s
House
on
Main
Avenue/Sokoine Drive, the present City
Drive, and the adjoining Seyyid Barghash
building at the corner of Mkwepu Street
(Casson: 1970).
To date, only the White Fathers’ house
(Figure 2) and the Old Boma (Figure 3) have
survived. They manifest the intelligence and
technological advancement of the Swahili
architecture which resulted from the
interaction of locals and immigrants from
Arabia or Persian Gulf with big influences
from Islamic architecture (Garlake: 1966).
The coral (coralline limestone) for the
masonry was obtained from the reef and
islands outside the harbour (Sutton: 1970).
The lime mortar and white plaster was
derived from burnt coral which was mixed in
proper proportions with sand and other
materials. Such tasks and achievements of
the past periods by locals (which are rarely
practiced today) are clearly manifested by
these buildings.
Figure 2: White Fathers Building
Lwoga, 2010.
Figure 3: Old Boma in the 1960s
Sutton, 1970.
After Sultan Seyyid Majid’s death in 1870,
his successor, Sultan Seyyid Barghash
decided to concentrate his development
plans in Zanzibar (Sutton: 1970). In 1885,
the Germans initiated plans of using Dar es
Salaam port as a means towards exploiting
the interior (Sutton: 1970). Architectural
buildings that were constructed during the
German period include the first European
building in Dar es Salaam, the Berlin
Mission in 1887 (See the old map of 1908 in
Gibb et al: 1949). In general, there were so
many other structures constructed during the
German and later the British periods. But,
due to a number of factors such the ‘Bushiri’
and the World Wars, and post-independent
construction developments, several buildings
were demolished. The historical buildings
that still stand today are architecturally
classified into the following groups for easy
presentation: German Classical-Swahili
Style, Simple Classical Style, and Gothic
and Bavarian Alpine Style buildings. The
German Classical-Swahili style buildings
show some influence from Swahili/Islamic
architecture evidenced by features such as
thick walls of coral masonry, pointed arches
and rare domed roof. The buildings have the
majority of features of German Classical
tradition such as I-section steel beams, hard
wood, ventilation holes, semi-circular and
four centered arches to mention but a few.
The buildings include the City Hall (Figure
4), Ocean Road Hospital (Figure 5),
Government Chemist Building (Figure 6),
Medical Headquarters (Figure 7), State
House (Figure 8), Old Post and the adjacent
International Motors Mart (Figure 9),
Railway Station Building (Figure 10),
Headquarters of East African Railways
(HEAR) (Figure 11), Internal Revenue
Building “Nyumba ya Mayai” (Figure 12).
Figure 4: City Hall
Figure 5: Ocean Road.
Figure 6: Chemist Buildin
Lwoga, 2010
Lwoga, 2010.
Lwoga, 2010.
Figure 7: Medical Building, 2009.
Figure 8. State House.
Lwoga, 2010.
Sutton, 1970.
Figure 10. Railway Station.
Lwoga, 2010.
Lwoga, 2010.
Figure 11: Façade of HEAR.
Lwoga, 2010.
The buildings constructed in simple classical
style are of German tradition with little
influence from Swahili architectural
tradition. Most of these buildings started to
be constructed in 1891 and were completed
by 1893 (Gillman: 1945; Sutton: 1970)
along the present Kivukoni Front. The
classical features of these buildings include
the carved wooden rafters, wooden stairs
with decorated steel balustrades, wide
verandahs of black painted steel joists and
sun-breaker screens, with floors and roofs
made of vaults of concrete. Their ground
floors comprised offices and mess rooms
Figure 9: Old Post Office
Figure 12: Internal Revenue
Lwoga, 2010.
while the upper floors housed the living
quarters with common bathrooms and
lavatories (Gillman: 1945). High German
officials such as the Governor’s Deputy, the
Chief Justice and many others stayed in
these buildings (ibid.). The buildings include
the Secretariat Building and its adjacent
building (Figures 13 and 14), the High Court
(Figures 15 and 16), Bureau of Statistics,
Casino and Main Title Registry Buildings
(Figures 17, 18 and 19), Forodhani Hotel
Building (Figures 20 and 21).
Figure 13: Secretariat, 1920s
Figure 14: Secretariat, 2010.
Sutton, 1970
Lwoga, 2010
Figure 16: High Court.
Figure 17: Bureau of Statistics.
Figure 15: High Court, 1930s
Sutton, 1970
Figure 18: Casino.
z
Lwoga, 2010.
Lwoga, 2010
Lwoga, 2010
Figure 19: Main Registry. Figure 20: Forodhani Hotel, 1920s Figure 21: Forodhani, 2009.
Lwoga, 2010
Courtesy of DMHC
Gothic and Bavarian Alpine style buildings
include the St. Joseph Catholic and Azania
Front Churches respectively. St. Joseph
Catholic Church (Figures 22 and 23) was
constructed in the period between 1897 and
1902 along the City Drive in Mchafukoge
ward. Azania Front Church (Figure 24) was
constructed from 1898 to 1902 along
Kivukoni Front on the ground which was
given to the German Lutherans by the
German East African Society. The buildings
have aesthetic internal Gothic designs and
features such as the multi-arched front doorentrance, internal colorful décor, ornaments,
thick columns and domed ceiling and arches.
Lwoga, 2010
Figure 22: St. Joseph Church.
Figure 23: Inside the Church.
Figure 24: Azania Front.
Lwoga, 2010
Lwoga, 2010
Lwoga, 2010
Other cultural heritage attractions include:
the Clock Tower and Askari Monuments, the
Dar es Salaam Museum and the House of
Culture which is the largest national museum
in the country opened in 1940 as the King
George V Memorial Museum, the Karimjee
Hall which faces the museum, the Botanical
Garden, Fish Market, Kariakoo Market,
Mnazi Mmoja Grounds, and Memorial
House of Mwalimu Julius Nyerere. Others
include several old mosques on Mosque
Street such as the Darkhana Jama'at-Khana,
Ibaddhi and Memon Mosques, Village
Museum which was established in 1966 to
house about 25 furnished traditional houses
of Tanzania and related material culture, the
World Wars Memorial Cemeteries, Mwenge
Handicraft Village, University of Dar es
Salaam, the 13th century Kunduchi Ruins
Site, Wazo Hill, the National Stadium, Pugu
Hills, and Gezaulole Village in Kigamboni
(For detailed information about the historical
sites, read Lwoga: 2010b; Mapunda: 2010).
5.0
FINDINGS
This section presents and analyses the
distribution of international tourists in
different demand patterns based on
geographical
and
psychological
(perceptions) aspects.
5.1
Distribution of Tourists according to
their Place of Origin
In order to understand the tourists’ profiles
this work looked at the tourists’ continent of
origin. As a matter of fact tourism is related
to the tourist disposable income, economic
aspects of the continent, country and
traditional views. As indicated in Figure 25,
the majority of tourists are from Europe
(60.7%) followed by North America
(14.6%), Asia (13.7%), Africa (8.2%),
Australia (2.7%), while there was none from
South America. Analyzing data at a context
of continent level indicates that certain
individual countries were represented than
others. For example, for the case of Europe
represented countries include England,
Denmark, Belgium, Finland, France,
Germany, Italy, Israel, Netherlands, Norway,
Poland, Sweden and Switzerland. However,
Germany recorded the highest number of
visitors, followed by England and
Netherlands. For the case of North America
most tourists were from United States, while
in Asia, Japan was the leading country. The
national tourism statistics of year 2008
agrees with the findings as they show that, in
2008, the Europeans formed the majority
(58,245) of the international tourist arrivals
after Kenyans.
Figure 25: Tourists Continent of Origin
140
60.7%
120
100
80
60
14.6%
40
13.7%
20
8.2%
2.7%
0
Europe
5.2
North
America
South
America
Asia
Australia
Africa
travelers (16%), visiting Friends and
Relatives
(VFR)
(14%)
and
business/conference purpose (11%) (Table
2). This trend is followed closely by tourists
(23% of international tourists) who stayed
for long time, that is, more than 32 days
(Table 2). The majority of these were
business or conference tourists. This
suggests that when given an opportunity,
business or conference tourists will engage
in other tourist activities (White et al: 2005).
Length of Stay and Purpose of Visit
On the side of length of stay, the majority
(30%) of international tourists stayed in Dar
es Salaam for a period of less than three days
(Table 1). This fact corresponds to earlier
assumptions that tourists in Dar es Salaam
do not stay for long, and that the city is not
appropriately poised to showcase what it has
and stimulate visitors to spend more time.
Results indicate that the majority of such
visitors came to Dar es Salaam for the
purposes of leisure (30%), on-transit
Table 1: Distribution of International Tourists According to the Length of Stay
Number
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
LENGTH OF STAY (DAYS)
0-3
4-7
8-14
15-21
22-31
32-…..
TOTAL
2
3
4
5
6
7
NUMBER OF PEOPLE
66
47
31
11
13
51
219
PERCENTAGES
30.1%
21.5%
14.2%
5.00%
05.9%
23.3%
100%
Table 2: Distribution of International Tourists by Purpose of Visit
1
2
3
4
PURPOSE OF
VISIT
LEISURE
BUSINESS
VFR
ON TRANSIT
OTHERS
TOTAL
EUR
N.AME
S.AME
ASIA
AUS
AFR
TOTAL
PERCENT
43
06
19
24
41
133
13
02
03
01
13
32
-
06
06
08
05
05
30
02
01
03
06
02
09
01
02
04
18
66
24
31
35
63
219
30.1%
10.9%
14.2%
16.0%
28.8%
100%
5.3 Tourist Perceptions on Cultural
Heritage Tourism
Tourists were asked to rate key cultural
heritage tourism supply elements including
cultural heritage attractions, cultural tour
guiding service, cultural tourist information,
and cultural heritage signs and labels. The
following were the results.
5.3.1 Perceptions on Cultural Heritage
Attractions
In this component, 42% of international
tourists who visited cultural heritage
attractions in Dar es Salaam city rated the
attractiveness and standards of the
attractions as being good (Table 3), while
25% ranked them as moderate. It is evident
therefore; that the attractions require
improvements in order to draw tourists’
attention provided that 26% did not visit
cultural heritage attractions. Physical
observation of cultural heritage attractions
suggests that the existing shortfall is caused
by: lack of plaques, labels and advertising
leaflets to provide self-guided information to
tourists, inaccessibility of some cultural
heritage sites (for instance, the State house
and other old government buildings), and
lack of appropriate itinerary incorporating
the private property into the public tourism
industry.
Other factors include lack of centralized
documentation of heritage elements found in
Dar es Salaam including historical,
archaeological, ecological sites as well as the
surviving traditional heritage attractions (live
dance, recreational and entertainment
activities and the Swahili culture). Lack of
appropriate conservation of heritage assets
particularly historical and archaeological
sites also degrades their position to tourism
activities. However, a few conserved
buildings such as St. Joseph Catholic
Church, Azania Front Church and others
attract notable number of tourists. But,
tourists to Azania Front Church are
discouraged by the use of building’s open
space as a car parking for city workers. From
this juncture, it is certainly true that tourists
will be more excited if the hosts show some
elements of care and appreciation to their
own heritage.
Table 3: International Tourists Perceptions on Cultural Heritage
ELEMENT RATING
EXCELLENT
GOOD
MODERATE
SUBSTANDARD
DIDN’T VISIT /SEE
TOTAL
1
2
3
4
5
5.3.2 Perceptions
Guiding
on
Cultural
NUMBER OF PEOPLE
21
91
54
07
56
219
Tour
Results indicates that most international
tourists (84%) did not use tour guiding
services (Table 4) despite being rated good
by those (11%) who used them. The service
requires large improvements, particularly in
knowledge
of
historical
buildings,
communication as well as appropriate
interpretation
skills
to
customers.
Observation of several city tour itineraries
and authors experiences of tour guiding
services in the city showed that most tour
guides are not knowledgeable on
whereabouts the Dar es Salaam tourist’s
attractions. For example, despite Dar es
PERCENTAGES
09.6%
41.6%
24.7%
03.2%
25.6%
100%
Salaam richness on tourist attraction areas
the tour guides tend to concentrate on few
attractions mainly the Mnazi Mmoja, Clock
Tower and Askari Monuments, the National
Museum and House of Culture, the Village
Museum, Mwenge Crafters Village and the
beach. In addition, the itineraries that tour
guides followed were not properly designed
to offer interesting and well communicated
packages. For example, they do not provide
the city’s history and detailed descriptions of
the old historical buildings. Furthermore,
most tour operators do not include Dar es
Salaam historical buildings in their
packages. Consequently, the attractions
remain poorly promoted.
Table 4: International Tourists Perceptions on Tour Guiding Services
1
2
3
4
TOUR RATING
EXCELLENT
GOOD
MODERATE
SUBSTANDARD
NUMBER OF PEOPLE
09
23
03
01
PERCENTAGES
04.1%
10.5%
01.4%
0.50%
5
DIDN’T USE
TOTAL
183
219
5.3.3 Perceptions on Cultural Heritage
Tourist Information Services
The results also show that the majority
(68%) of international tourists did neither
see nor use tourist information services in
Dar es Salaam, while most of those who had
an opportunity use them (12%) rated them as
moderate to substandard (Table 5). Tourist
information services, therefore, require large
improvements in terms of their information
reliability and availability. This conforms
well to authors’ observation at the time of
study. For example, Dar es Salaam city has
only one organized tourist information
centre located along Samora Avenue. The
office cannot be easily identified by potential
tourists and had inadequate information on
Dar es Salaam cultural heritage attractions.
83.6%
100%
With exception of few private owned
publications such as the Dar Guide, the City
authority has not produced any detailed
publication to promote cultural heritage
attractions. In addition, there are no street
labels or billboards which advertise the
city’s heritage, and wherever exist; they are
poorly labeled and not detailed. Most of
labels and billboards in city’s streets are
business
oriented
whereby
telecommunication, hotels and beverages
predominate. This feature is also clearly
noticeable at all entrance points to Dar es
Salaam, at the UBT, JNIA and harbour. In
general, at the time of study there were no
signs that the city had any plan to promote
and provide adequate tourist information
focused on cultural heritage.
Table 5: International Tourists Perceptions on Tourist Information Services
Tourist Information Rating
Excellent
Good
Moderate
Substandard
Didn’t see/use
Total
6.0
Number of People
03
27
14
27
148
219
Percentages
01.4%
12.3%
06.4%
12.3%
67.6%
100%
CONCLUSIONS
Despite its richness in cultural heritage
assets, Dar es Salaam city has for long
remained as the tourists’ gateway to remote
coastal, southern and northern tourist
circuits. Strategies to amend this shortfall
dates back to 2000 whereby the DCC with
the assistance of ICSC and PLUS Network
(Canada) initiated tourism development
strategies for Dar es Salaam city (Wight et
al: 2005). Despite, such strategies there was
no improvement in tourist stay at the city. In
consideration of such a situation, this study
analyzed demand for cultural heritage
tourism in Dar es Salaam city centre with a
view of recommending demand-based
measures for developing the city as a
favorable cultural tourist destination. By
using several research methods, the patterns
of tourism demand and tourists’ perceptions
on key tourism supply elements were
gathered and analyzed.
What is unique with Dar es Salaam tourism
in comparison to tourism in cities of
developed countries is that, leisure tourists
view the Dar es Salaam city more as a
secondary destination than primary one. On
that ground, leisure tourists stay in Dar es
Salaam for shorter period of between one
and three days. Because the majority of
tourists visiting Tanzania are leisure tourists,
then, Dar es Salaam is perceived as a
gateway to other tourist destinations. Such
findings are also supported by earlier
findings of Wight et al (2005). However,
few business or conference tourists and those
who came for the purpose of visiting friends
and relatives view the city as their primary
destination. That means, as suggested by
Law (1996), the city is well endowed with
such business facilities that provide primary
and core satisfaction to business travelers
who do business shopping, visit trade fairs
and exhibitions, meetings, conferences and
conventions. The study findings indicate that
there are several opportunities that could
promote Dar es Salaam city from being just
a tourists’ gateway to a primary tourists’
destination. As noted earlier, the city is full
of potentials including both cultural and
natural heritage of which if properly
harnessed, could attract more tourists;
stimulate tourist’s longer stays and high
spending in the city. Ruetsche (2006) notes
that historic values of old buildings and
other cultural landmarks can generate a
sense of place and provide city tourists with
memorable experiences and stimulate longer
tourist stays.
In general, elements of cultural heritage
tourism in the city are in need of large
improvements. Such elements range from
cultural
heritage
attractions,
tourist
information, tour guiding services, street
labels and attraction signs. It appears,
therefore, that most cultural tourism supply
elements of the Dar es Salaam do not
currently satisfy demand for cultural heritage
tourism. This means that tourism
development strategies in the city do not
fully address the mentioned cultural heritage
tourism gaps. Most of the prevailing
strategies (by the MNRT, DCC, and DTAC)
focused on improving accommodation, food
and beverage services as well as natural
attractions such as beach areas. The gaps
related to cultural heritage tourism are
ignored, overlooked or left to other
responsible institutions such as the
Antiquities Division to solve. Definitely, the
ignorance of cultural heritage tourism gaps
has caused the prevailing scenario of Dar es
Salaam as a ‘mere gateway for tourists’.
The following are recommendations to Dar
es Salaam City Council, Dar es Salaam
Tourism Advisory Council, Tourism
Facilitation Committee, and the Ministry of
Natural Resources and Tourism that can help
to shape Dar es Salaam city as a cultural
tourist destination.
Promote Cultural Heritage Values and
Conservation
The built heritage, particularly, old buildings
of Dar es Salaam city central area have
cultural significance that must be sustainably
conserved. For instance, they show
multiplicity in age and design of the city’s
architecture and spaces. They embrace the
architecture of different elements of society
and cultural backgrounds of communities
such as the Swahili, European and Asian,
hence expressing the pride of the city’s
diversity. Ruetsche (2006) noted that the
historic values of cultural heritage
emphasize the local character and identity of
an area. Similarly, historical buildings of Dar
es Salaam bestow a sense of identity to the
community and inform the public about the
past from which the modern city and
Tanzania has grown.. It should be
remembered that the historical buildings’
impressive firmness, styles, designs and
decor are the stupendous achievements for
their time and place. It shows past people’s
forethought, time, economy, social and
environmental aspects to carefully select the
city’s location (near the harbor) and acquire
and craft building materials and create
marvelous designs. Moreover, beyond their
educational component, they can also
provide city tourists with memorable
experiences. To achieve conservation goal,
city tourism efforts must fully incorporate
the Antiquities Division and other
conservation institutions and experts as well
as local community.
Improve Cultural Tour Guiding Services
Tour guiding service can be improved
through training. Russo and Van der Borg
(2002) advised cities aspiring to become
favourite tourist destinations to never neglect
the quality of human capital and training
from the tour guiding jobs to entrepreneurs
and in the public sector. Tourism planners
should collaborate with local colleges and
higher training institutions to deliver quality
training people interested in working as local
tour guides. For instance, the Department of
History and Archaeology in the University
of Dar es Salaam is well equipped with
trainers for History, Archaeology, Cultural
Heritage and Cultural Tourism subjects that
are essential for city guides and for carrying
out cultural heritage research. Other
institutions such as the Dar es Salaam
University Business School can enhance the
entrepreneurship, management and service
aspects. In general, the training programme
for city guides should include subjects such
as communication skills, foreign languages
and cultures, tour guiding skills and ethics,
heritage interpretation techniques, history
and archaeology of Tanzania and Dar es
Salaam or Swahili coast, customer care,
principles of tourism, entrepreneurship,
architectural conservation and First Aid
Techniques.
Improve Cultural Heritage Information
and Promotion
There should be a wide promotion of
cultural heritage in international and local
media, newspapers, brochures, websites,
travel agents and tour operators, travel
magazine, Tanzanian embassies abroad, and
trade fairs in the country and abroad.
Furthermore, tourism information services
should be improved by developing a
comprehensive Dar es Salaam tourist map
and information guides, designing Dar es
Salaam tourist attractions advertisements and
information centres at the main entry points
(JNIA, UBT and harbour). Information
service can also be improved by providing
taxi drivers with city tourist information,
designing proper city website that displays
all attractions, and designing more tourist
information centres at the Kivukoni
waterfront, Msasani Peninsula and Mlimani
City. The sites should have proper and
detailed interpretation plaques, labels and
signs. Promotion of cultural heritage can
also be done by designing programs such as
‘Cultural Day’ or ‘City Tradition Week’.
Design City Tourist Zones and Attractive
Tour Itineraries
City tourism planners can design tourist
zones in the city which incorporate multiple
tourist experiences ranging from business,
beach and entertainment to cultural heritage
experience. As pointed out by Ruetsche
(2006) the zones can act as a strategy to
attract tourists and provide better amenities
and enable tourists to move easily from one
attraction to another. According to Getz
(1993) tourist zones can be fully or partially
planned. This means that while others
develop in a free enterprise environment,
others are developed through control and
regulatory measures. With regards to Dar es
Salaam city which has just recently found
the need to develop city tourism, it is better
to combine the already occurring zones
within the free enterprise environment
context with proper planning and control
measures at the infant stage of development.
The development of tourist zones should be
in line with improving access to historical
buildings and the designation of itineraries.
The potential tourist activities and functional
areas that can form tourist zones where
itineraries can be developed to reflect
multiple include the following: The
historical, cultural, entertainment/nightlife,
business and conferencing features in the
Dar es Salaam city centre; the historical,
cultural, leisure-shopping, entertainment and
leisure-beach features of the northern parts
of the city; and, the nature walk, bird
watching and leisure-beach features in the
southern Dar es Salaam. Figure 26 indicates
an example of a tourist zone ‘Dar es Salaam
city centre tourist zone’. In general, other
tourist zones and itineraries for northern and
southern Dar es Salaam can also be
developed following the mentioned example.
Figure 26: A Map Showing a Possible Tourist Route in Dar es Salaam City Centre Adopted
from Mahuwi and Ngowi, 1995
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
This work would not have been possible without financial support from the UDSM World
Bank Project (CIA.6.2). We wish to acknowledge the following who participated in this
study: Mr. Elgidius Ichumbaki, Mr. Fides Kirei, Ms. L. Anuciata, Ms. S. Newaho, Mr. Omari
Kafulila and Mr. Abel Shikoni.
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