TOURISM DEVELOPMENT IN TANZANIA BEFORE AND AFTER
INDEPENDENCE: SUSTAINABILITY PERSPECTIVES
Mr. Noel Biseko Lwoga
Department of History and Archaeology,
University of Dar es Salaam,
P.O. Box 35050, Dar es Salaam
Email: [email protected]
ABSTRACT
This paper aimed at studying tourism
development in sub-Sahara Africa from the
sustainability perspective, and analyzing
factors shaping tourism development in the
region with a special focus on the Tanzania
Mainland. The paper used documentary
review, semi-structured interviews and
anecdotal evidences to achieve its aim. The
paper established that the evolution of tourism
in Tanzania can be traced back to the ancient
period of the zinj, to the era of the ancient
civilization of Rhapta, the Swahili coast
civilization and early inland states. However,
modern tourism emerged during the colonial
period
and
further
advanced
after
independence. It was also found that the
development of modern tourism in the
country was a complex process embedded
with struggles and periods of ups and downs
due to social, economical and political
dynamics. Some issues such as wars and
political instability, economic prosperity,
transport and communication technology
break-through that affected global tourism
development were found to influence tourism
in Tanzania. In addition, in the sub-Sahara
African
context,
colonialism,
neocolonialism, globalization and relations
between developed and developing countries,
conservation policies and local community
concerns were found to be crucial factors
shaping tourism development, particularly the
adoption of sustainable tourism approach and
the way it is managed. The study provides
recommendations to the governments in subSahara African region, tourism policy makers
and managers in the region and other tourism
stakeholders particularly the private sector
and local community in order to create a
better future for tourism sustainability in the
region.
Keywords: Origin of tourism, tourism
history, tourism development, sub-Sahara
African tourism, tourism development in
Tanzania.
1.0
INTRODUCTION
Tourism is one of the fastest growing
industries in the world (Goeldner et al.,
2000). The international arrival grew from 25
million international arrivals in 1950 to 625
million arrivals in 1998 and to an estimated
806 million in 2005 (Ibid.). Tourism growth
has also been fast in sub-Sahara African
countries such as Tanzania which saw the
rising number of tourists from 5,300 in 1947
(Ouma, 1970; Vojislav, 1972) to 867,994 in
2011 (URT, 2012). Tourism development in
sub-Sahara Africa involved, together with
other advancements, the major changes in
tourism
practices
which
emphasized
‘sustainable tourism’. In contrast to mass
tourism which emphasized on tourism
development regardless of its negative
impacts, sustainable tourism concept came to
ensure that tourism meets the needs of present
visitors and host region while protecting and
enhancing the opportunity for the future
generation to meet their needs (UNWTO,
1993).
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1
While it is clear that sustainable tourism was
a developed-world born concept that emerged
out of the growing concern over the negative
impacts of tourism activities to the
environment and consequences of global
tourism (Mowforth & Munt, 1998), its
adoption in sub-Sahara African context has
not been critically rationalized. Moreover,
despite the emphasis on new developments of
tourism in the region, the foundations,
practices and crucial issues that shaped and
made sustainable tourism a necessary practice
in the region remain blurred. The situation has
led to enormous critics to the application of
the concept in sub-Sahara African countries,
most of which have neither captured full
potentials of their tourism resources nor
reached the point of ‘mass tourism’. In this
regard, sustainable tourism is seen as an
obstacle to full exploitation of enormous
untouched natural and cultural resources
appearing at the local perspective for the sake
of sustainability at the global levels.
Moreover, sustainable tourism, with its
environmentalism ideology is viewed as a
neocolonialism tool because it disregards the
local perspectives (Mowforth & Munt, 1998).
In general, sustainable tourism will remain an
alien concept in sub-Sahara Africa, unless
tourism development in this region is
critically studied to understand its evolution,
nature and dynamics that necessitated the
adoption of new tourism, that is, sustainable
tourism.
This paper on tourism development is further
motivated by the fact that the evolution of
tourism in sub-Sahara Africa and the
justification of its new approaches from the
local perspective in sub-Sahara Africa have
received limited scholarly attention (Douglas,
2004; Lwoga, 2011). Consequently, there is
little understanding of the foundations and
crucial issues which shaped, and still shape,
tourism in the region. Tourism policy makers
and managers also fail to properly and
sympathetically adopt the developed world-
originated tourism approaches in the local
context.
This paper, therefore, critically studies the
history of tourism in sub-Sahara Africa to
investigate the nature of early tourism in the
region, factors shaping its development and
practices in relation to the pillars of
sustainable tourism with a special focus on
Tanzania Mainland. The highlight on the
above mentioned issues is crucial in
broadening the understanding of the evolution
of modern tourism and its new approaches, in
particular sustainable tourism, in a once
colonized and developing region of Africa. A
critical understanding of tourism development
in sub-Sahara Africa from a historical angle is
also crucial to tourism management
institutions and policy makers in making
insightful decisions about the present and
future development of tourism.
Firstly, the paper introduces the concept of
tourism, its new approach ‘sustainable
tourism’ and the methodology adopted.
Secondly, it highlights on the global history
of tourism and the emergence of new tourism
approaches from a global perspective.
Thirdly, it provides the synthesis of tourism
history in sub-Sahara Africa by focusing
much on Tanzania Mainland. Finally, it
provides a discussion on the nature of tourism
and factors influencing its growth in the
country, and historical issues that provided
the necessity for Tanzania to adopt the
sustainable tourism approach. Conclusions
are provided on how country’s tourism should
be shaped and managed to properly adopt the
concept of, and achieve goals of, sustainable
tourism.
2.0
STUDYING TOURISM FROM THE
HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE
There are several approaches to the study of
tourism phenomenon (Cooper, 2005). These
include economical, geographical, historical,
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2
anthropological, psychological, sociological
and managerial approaches to mention but a
few (Ibid.). The paper adopted the historical
approach to tourism study. In this context, it
is crucial to highlight the meaning of tourism
and its crucial approach toward ‘sustainable
tourism’ and the methodology that guided the
tracing of tourism phenomenon at the global
and national historical levels.
The term “tourism” firstly appeared in
England’s Sporting Magazine in 1811
(Theobald, 1998). It was used to describe the
activities of young male British aristocrats
being educated for careers in politics,
government and diplomatic services, and
engaged in the earlier mentioned Grand Tour
of the European continent (Leiper, 1979). In
the 20th century tourism gained concern from
different
academicians,
disciplines,
practitioners and governments due to its
economic importance and relation to
environmental and social settings. Many
scholars (Eliot, 1974; Leiper, 1979, 1983;
Lickorish & Jenkins, 1997; Holloway, 1998;
Theobald, 1998), and different institutions
and countries have defined tourism to suite
their situations. To create harmony and
uniformity in tourism definition and analysis
the international conference on travel and
tourism statistics in 1991 was convened by
the United Nations World Tourism
Organization (UNWTO) in Ottawa, Canada.
Basing on the recommendations of this
Ottawa Conference and the 1993 United
Nations statistical conventions, the following
is the basic definition of tourism: ‘the set of
activities of persons traveling to and staying
in places outside their usual environment for
not more than one consecutive year and
whose main purpose of travel is other than the
exercise of an activity remunerated from
within the place visited’. The definition is
used in this paper in tracing the history and
development of tourism because it is accepted
and used by most developed and developing
countries including Tanzania (see
National Tourism Policy, URT, 1999).
the
Sustainable tourism is an important discourse
to the study of tourism history. UNWTO
(1993) defined sustainable tourism as
‘tourism that meets the needs of present
visitors and host region while protecting and
enhancing the opportunity for the future
generation to meet their needs’. In general,
the pillars of sustainable tourism are
summarized into three components: (i)
environmental
sustainability
which
emphasizes the protection and conservation of
the environment; (ii) economic sustainability
where issues such as maximizing benefits
from tourism, while minimizing the costs,
ensuring that tourism benefits are equitably
distributed to communities, stimulating local
economy, have to be met, and; (iii) sociocultural sustainability which emphasizes the
minimization of negative impacts of tourism
to the society and their culture (Nicholas et al,
2009). Sustainable tourism, with its three
pillars, has been promoted as the best new
approach to tourism development and
accepted by developed and developing
countries, international and national tourism
organizations, the United Nations World
Tourism Organization, the World Bank, and
other stakeholders in tourism industry.
In studying the history of Tourism in subSahara Africa, this paper focuses on Tanzania
Mainland. The country (Figure 1) is located in
eastern Africa and covers 947,300 km²
between latitudes 1° and 12°S, and longitudes
29° and 41°E. It is one of the countries which
form the East Africa Community (EAC);
others include Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda and
Burundi. The country is endowed with unique
and diverse natural and cultural tourist
attractions including the famous Mount
Kilimanjaro, the Serengeti National Park, the
Ngorongoro Crater and the Olduvai Gorge
and Laetoli Footprints Sites. Currently the
country has 16 national parks, 30 game
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3
controlled areas, one conservation area,
several marine parks (MNRT, 2008) and over
3,000 cultural heritage sites (Mapunda, 2007).
Politically, Tanzania Mainland passed
through different periods of Arabs, German
and British rules. It became independent in
1961 and a republic in 1962. Later, in 1964,
Tanzania joined Zanzibar to form the
Republic of Tanzania. The government of that
period adopted a socialism stand which was
guided by the principles of self-reliance and
state ownership and management of property
and resources in the marketplace (Wade et al,
2001). However, in the mid 1980s, major
reforms in the political and economical
aspects allowed liberalization of trade and
increased privatization in the economy (Ibid.).
Tourism Act of 2008 is the major tourism
legislative frame in the country which has
provisions for all tourism sub-sectors and
legal concerns to tourism operations. The
Ministry of Natural Resources and Tourism is
the
leading
governmental
institution
concerned with the formulation and
implementation of tourism development
policy strategies and plans, and the
stimulation and promotion of private
investment activities. It also regulates,
promotes and facilitates tourist service
provision in the country. There are
conservation institutions such as the Tanzania
National Parks (TANAPA) responsible for all
national parks in the country, Ngorongoro
Conservation Area Authority (NCAA)
responsible for conserving the Ngorongoro
area, Tanzania Wildlife Research Institute
(TAWIRI) and others. Their roles are to
ensure high quality product development, to
enhance
marketing
and
promotion,
conservation and awareness of the products,
and to ensure proper management of the
resources (URT, 1999). There are tourism
business owners who are clustered in what is
known as the private sector. The sector has
the role of developing, investing, promoting
and marketing tourist products such as
accommodation facilities, provision of
attractive tour packages, and many other
products. Today, the private sector is well
organized in trade associations such as the
Tanzania Association of Tour Operators
(TATO), Tanzania Association of Travel
Agents (TASOTA), Hotel Association of
Tanzania (HAT), Tanzania Hunting Operators
Association (TAHOA), Intra-Africa Tourism
and Travel Association (ITTA), Tanzania
Professional Hunters Association (TPHA),
Zanzibar Tourism Investors Association
(ZATI), Tanzania Tour Guides Association
(TTGA), Tanzania Air Operators Association
(TAOA), Tourism and Hotel Professionals
Association of Tanzania (THPAT) and
Tanzania
Hotel
Schools
Association
(TAHOSA). All these associations are the
constituent members of the umbrella
organization known as the Tourism
Confederation of Tanzania (TCT) which acts
as a representative of the private sector.
The tourism phenomenon is a human
construct which is situated in unstructured
social-cultural and political contexts (Cooper,
2005). Writing its history involves unraveling
its multiple realities and underlying patterns
and historical events occurring from the social
world (Lwoga, 2011). In constructing the
history of tourism, the author was, therefore,
guided by the tenets of interpretivist. He also
adopted Douglas’s (2004) argument that
scholars should consider social, economical
and political environments that might have
influenced tourism development. Questions
such as how, where and why tourism evolved
in a particular country must be explained in
both local and global perspectives (Ibid.).
Data collection involved both primary and
secondary sources. Primary data collection
techniques included in-depth interviews with
prominent tourism experts and historians
from
Makerere
University
(Uganda),
University of Dar es Salaam (Tanzania) and
two Tourism Officers from the Ministry of
Natural Resources and Tourism (MNRT) in
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Vol. 1 No. 2 December 2013
4
Tanzania. Experts were asked to respond to
such questions as: How did tourism start in
Tanzania? What were and are key factors
influencing tourism growth in the country?
What were and are key challenges for the
development of tourism in the country? How
sustainable tourism emerged in Tanzania?
Was sustainable tourism a necessary or
optional development approach in the
country? The author also did content analysis
and reviewed various secondary sources from
scholarly journals, books, government
reports, old newspapers such as The Standard
in the University of Dar es Salaam library and
on-line materials. In addition, his experiences
of the tourism sector in Tanzania contributed
in the analysis of the history of tourism.
Figure 1. A Map of Tanzania
Source: Tantravel, Vol. XVII, No. 56 (2011)
3.0
GENERAL HISTORY OF
TOURISM
In general, a good literature review
would provide some lights on factors
responsible for the rapid growth of tourism in
the world. The factors include: the
introduction of tourist facilities, services and
travel networks; the breakthroughs in travel
and communication technologies; the growth
in trade and social movements such as
religious travels; economic prosperity and
introduction of paid holidays, and the increase
in safety and security. There is also an
agreement that issues such as political
instability, wars, terrorism, economic crisis
and epidemic diseases are hindrances to
tourism development. It has also been noted
that, globally, sustainable tourism began as an
approach to counteract the negative impacts
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Vol. 1 No. 2 December 2013
5
of tourism and to contribute
sustainable development.
towards
Due to rapid growth and development of most
sectors of economy from the 1970s, major
environmental
problems
such
as
deforestation, desertification, ecosystem
degradation and destruction, pollution, soil
erosion to mention but a few, occurred. The
World Commission for Environment and
Development (WCED), as an independent
commission reporting directly to the United
Nations Assembly, with Gro Harlem
Brundtland as chairperson, published a report
entitled ‘Our Common Future’ in 1987. The
report placed the concept of sustainable
development at centre stage and promoted it
as a vehicle for deliverance from experienced
global environmental problems. It defined
sustainable development as development that
meets the needs of the present without
compromising the ability of future
generations to meet their own needs
(Goeldner et al, 2000). Tourism as one of
development activities which pose serious
negative impacts to the environment and the
socio-cultural front had to, therefore, adopts
the concept of ‘sustainability’ to its practices.
Thus, the United Nations World Tourism
Organization
(UNWTO)
adopted
the
sustainable development approach, and
merged it with tourism to form a concept
known as sustainable tourism development or
in short sustainable tourism. The concept was
later adopted by many other countries in
developed and developing countries.
4.0 HISTORY OF TOURISM
DEVELOPMENT IN TANZANIA
It is believed that the academic study of
tourism has been a western development, and
many western researchers are more
comfortable working within their own
cultural and social settings (Douglas, 2004).
This
situation
has
caused
limited
understanding of tourism history in sub-
Sahara Africa and oversimplified the history
of tourism (Walton, 2009). Scholars who
have talked about tourism history in Africa
(such as Rodgers, 2001; Cook et al, 2006;
Lubbe, 2003; and Holloway, 1998) have only
focused more on events that occurred in
ancient Egypt than in sub-Sahara Africa.
Ouma (1970), Wade et al (2001) and Salazer
(2009) also considered sub-Sahara Africa.
However, they attributed the coming of
tourism with Europeans. Ouma (1970) argued
that Africa was a dark continent, unsafe and
unsuited for tourist visits. During the colonial
period, tourism was only established to cater
for the needs of colonialists and their families
who came for game viewing and hunting
(Salazer, 2009). Wade et al (2001) explained
the history of tourism in Tanzania from the
period after independence while ignoring the
tourism situation before independence. They
analyzed this tourism market and identified
the following challenges for tourism
development after independence: poor
transportation,
accommodation
and
information facilities; weak internal tourism
education and poorly funded tourism
institutional frameworks. However, the
historians Kimambo (1960) and Ehret (2002)
argued that Africans participated fully in the
great transformations of world history, from
the first rise of agricultural ways of life to the
various inventions to the growth and spread
of global networks of commerce, implicitly,
including tourism. This Africanist approach to
African history has for long been neglected
by tourism scholars. Using the Africanist
approach, Lwoga (2011) attempted to trace
the history of tourism in Africa. By applying
historical documentary review, Lwoga (2011)
noted the existence of features of travel and
tourism industry in African societies before
colonialism. He argued that sub-Sahara Africa
and Africans played the foundational role
towards the evolution of tourism in the world.
It is, therefore, accepted that colonialists
modernized the country’s tourism. However,
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Vol. 1 No. 2 December 2013
6
the features of tourism had already been
experienced with ancient travels (Ibid.).
To systematically write about the tourism
history in Tanzania, this sections is arranged
in the following six sub-sections: (i) early
travels in the country before colonialism, (ii)
the beginning of the modern tourism: the
coming of colonialists; (iii) tourism after
independence: the socialist struggles and
achievements; (iv) tourism under the new
political and economical policies; (v) the
struggle for global tourism market and
sustainability, and (vi) recalling the local
perspectives for sustainable tourism.
4.1
Early Travels in Tanzania Before
Colonialism
Travel has existed in parts of Tanzania since
the ancient period when the earliest ancestors,
the hominids (such as the Zinjanthropus
Boisei or the zinj discovered at the Olduvai
Gorge Site), moved for subsistence purposes.
Moreover, before the beginning of the
Graeco-Roman period (7th century BC to 5th
century AD) which is the period attributed to
the emergence of leisure tourism in Europe,
there were movements of people to, and
within Tanzania for tourism-like purposes.
The people of Tanzania made contacts with
neighbours for both peaceful and warfare
purposes, for leisure, spiritual and trade with
regions near and far, and for settlement
expansion (Sutton, 1969). Archaeological
studies suggest that during the first five
centuries AD, the coast of Tanzania was
occupied by the farming Bantu community
who engaged in trade opportunities along the
Indian Ocean (Chami, 1998). The Bantu
activities were definitely embedded with
travel for exploration along the coast. The
flourishing settlements of the coast attracted
foreigners to come and trade and even settle.
The document The Periplus of the Erythraean
Sea (The Voyage of the Indian Ocean) written
in the 100 AD as a traveller’s guide shows the
location of an ancient settlement, namely
Rhapta along the coast of Tanzania (Chami,
1996). According to Chami (2006), in the first
century AD, the Rhapta was an emporium. At
the end of the second and third century AD,
Rhapta was a metropolis (Ibid.). Travels for
leisure, trade and other socio-economic and
political reasons were possible. Visitors from
Egypt stayed for about eight months in
Rhapta (Reader, 1997). In addition, in the mid
second century (around 150) AD, the Greek
merchant named Diogenes had visited Rhapta
(Croegaert, 1999). Such early travel
phenomena were probably tourism travels in
the modern sense.
Indeed, after the eighth century AD, the Bantu
community started to intermingle with
Islamic people, explored the new Islamic
ideology and trade, expanded cultural
contacts and developed the Swahili culture
(Ibid.). The economic situation of the Swahili
community which by 1100 to 1600 AD was
using coins for trade, culminated in the great
prosperity of 1400 to 1500 AD (Ibid.). Due to
their economic, social and political
prosperity, it is probable that some people of
the Swahili community had time for leisure
and travelled for various purposes such as
trade, relaxation and social exchange by using
sailing ships known as dhows (Plate 1).
Visitors such as al-Masudi and Ibn Battuta
visited the Swahili coast in the 10th and 14th
centuries respectively (Shillington, 1995). Ibn
Battuta who visited Kilwa in 1331. He
recounted that the sultan of Kilwa was so
hospitable and caring for visitors that he
reserved a special fund for entertaining them
(Shillington, 1995).
During this period, other parts of sub-Sahara
Africa experienced tourism-like travels or
visitations. In the 14th century (in 1324/5),
Mansa Musa, the ruler of the empire of Mali,
and Muhammad Ture, the founder of Askiya
dynasty of the Songhay Empire, visited
Mecca for religious purposes (Shillington,
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7
1995). The empire of Mali also attracted
many visitors and caravans including the
Berber Geographer Ibn Battuta who praised
the Mali people’s hospitality and love of
justice (Ibid.). This means that, by then,
Africans gave hospitable welcomes to visitors
and promoted safety and security in their
destinations. It seems the popularity of such
destinations as the Empire of Mali made them
gain attention from Europeans. For instance,
Leo Africanus visited Mali twice in 1510 and
1513 and noted that:
“Here are many shops of craftsmen and
merchants, especially those who weave linen
and cotton cloth. To this place Barbarie [Berber]
bring cloth from Europe…the inhabitants are
people of a gentle and cheerful disposition, and
spend a great part of the night in singing and
dancing through all the streets of the city”
(Shillington, 1995:105).
Thus, in contrast to Ouma’s argument of 1970
that Africa was a dark continent unsafe for
travel, before the coming of the Europeans (in
particular Portuguese) there were shining
developments and peaceful relations between
early African states and piracy-free trade
zones (Shillington, 1995).
Plate 1. Dhow Transport
Source: Brennan and Burton (2005)
Other parts of Tanzania are noted to have
travel elements for various purposes.
According to Kimambo (1969), by the 16th
century,
some
communities
in
the
northeastern Tanzania, Southern Highlands
and Bukoba had political systems which
evolved from small chiefdoms. Travel from
one place to another for settlements, political,
social, ritual, and economical purposes were
common (Ibid.). Traditional ways of
conserving ritual sites promoted ritual or
spiritual or religious travels. Thus, before the
introduction
of
colonial
conservation
approaches in the early 20th century, active
custody of monuments and sites tended to
focus more on those places that were held
sacred by local communities (Mumma, 2009).
The sacred sites included shrines, rock
shelters, royal and chiefly burials, tree groves
and forests, abandoned settlements, and many
others. It is probable that most people in and
nearby such communities traveled to pay a
visit for ritual purposes to such sites. In
addition, because the communities were
growing and advancing in terms of political,
cultural and social complexity and innovation,
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8
some movements for leisure, exploration,
trade and others apart from rituals were made
(Kimambo, 1969).
In the 16th century (1506), Tanzania got
visitors from Europe who came for various
purposes including exploration. According to
Reader (1997) the earlier mentioned
Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama came to
the East Africa and dealt mainly with the
collection of custom duties from all traders on
the Indian Ocean. The Portuguese controlled
most of the East African coast from 1525
until the early 18th century when Omani
Arabs regained control of the slave trade.
Furthermore, Tanzania saw the incoming of
Europeans as missionaries, explorers and
traders before colonialism who developed
their settlements and mission stations. For
example, it is believed that the first
exploration by the Germans into Tanganyika
took place in 1846 when German missionaries
Ludwig Krapf and Johannes Redmann
explored the Pangani valley for two years. In
1856, the British Royal Geographical Society
commissioned Richard Francis Burton and
John Hannington Speke to look for the source
of the Nile. Two years later, they reported
Lake Ukerewe (renamed Lake Victoria after
the Queen Victoria). David Livingstone
explored East Africa to find navigable
waterways before setting off on his crusade
against slavery. In 1873, Cameron was the
first European to cross Africa from east to
west, from Bagamoyo on the eastern coast of
Tanganyika. In addition, Elton crossed Africa
from south to north, passing through Lake
Nyasa and reaching central Tanganyika where
he died in 1877 near Bahi swamps, west of
Dodoma. Henry Morton Stanley led his
expeditions for colonization purposes. He
journeyed for extensive periods between 1871
and 1889. As Europeans explored inland, in
the mid 19th century (1862), the Sultan of
Zanzibar (Sultan Seyyid Majid) decided to
develop a port south of Mzizima (later to be
known as Dar es Salaam) and constructed
several architectural buildings including his
palace (Sutton, 1970). Some of the early
settlements and other remains are today
conserved as historical sites. On the other
hand, in this period, the advancing local
Tanzanians and their place in tourism history
were placed at a disadvantage from the times
of massive slave trade. The trade caused
social, local economical and psychological
stress and depletion of local manpower
(Shillington, 1995). Consequently, the later
tourism development was highly influenced
by developed countries, supranational
institutions and their global political,
economic and social policies than local
institutional and political frameworks.
4.2
Beginning of the Modern Tourism:
The Coming of Colonialists
The Tanzania Mainland was selected to be the
administrative,
commercial
and
communication centre for the German East
Africa from 1891 till the British occupation in
1916. The essence of modern tourism in
Tanzania as in other parts of Africa started in
this period when modern tourist facilities and
infrastructure were built, and leisure and
adventure (hunting) tourism were promoted.
Hunting tourism gained popularity and
attracted many hunters who were mostly
foreigners. As hunting gained its pace, the
colonial administration designated areas for
such activities as game reserves and
formalized the conservation of natural and
cultural heritage. According to Ouma (1970)
the German administration stipulated game
ordinances in their official Gazette Numbers 3
and 25 of 1912, and established a long list of
game reserves. They also made the first
collection of movable cultural heritage assets
while constructing the central railway line in
early 1900 (Kayombo, 2005). Although such
tourism and conservation efforts were proper
for future tourism development in Tanzania,
they undermined local community’s values
and participation. During this time, tourism
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Vol. 1 No. 2 December 2013
9
and conservation catered for the interests of
the colonialists (Salazar, 2009).
The Germans also constructed administration
offices, health facilities, hotels, ports,
electrical power in Dar es Salaam, the central
railway, the first airport at Kurasini in 1918
(it was known as Mkeja Airport) and other
infrastructure. According to the Precision Air
travel journal, Paa (2011), the oldest hotel
facility in Tanzania was the Brown and
Barratt Hotel at the site of the New Arusha
Hotel in Arusha. The old hotel was
constructed with two bedrooms in 1894 by
the Germans and housed famous people such
as the Prince of Wales. Other tourist facilities
were introduced in Dar es Salaam. These
included the New Palace hotel, Chez Clo Bar
nearby today’s Askari Monument, the Casino
or Officer’s Mess (Survey and Mapping
Department), ‘Kaiserhof’ (renamed as the
New Africa Hotel built in 1906, see Plate 2),
the Old Post Office (Plate 3) used as
communication point, the German club (plate
4) at the site of the Court of Appea, the
railway station built in 1905, Hotel Stadt (see
Lwoga, 2010; Mturi, 1982; Sutton, 1970,
Gibb et al. 1949), the Schultz Brewery built
by Wilhelm Schultz in 1897 (Sykes and
Waide, 1997), and many others.
Plate 2. Old New Africa Hotel
Plate 3. Old Post during the German Period
Source: Mascarenhas (2005)
Source: Mascarenhas (2005)
Plate 4. Old German Club
Courtesy of DMHC (2009)
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10
However, local community’s use and
management of such facilities were limited.
The earlier Dar es Salaam situation shows the
neglect of black Africans who were placed in
a low class as workers for the colonialists and
Indian traders (see Brennan and Burton,
2007). For example, there were zones for
German
administrative-cum
residential
buildings (today’s Kivukoni and Magogoni
areas) and a commercial zone with mostly
Indians mingling with Africans and Arabs
(Ibid.;
Gibb
et
al.,
1949). Such
discrimination,
including
the
earlier
mentioned neglect of local communities, were
the basis for today’s low community
awareness about the tourism sector and the
low community participation as tourists and
managers of the world class tourist facilities
in the country.
At the end of World War I, the
Germans relinquished control over Tanzania
and handled it over to the British
administration. The British promulgated the
Colonial Monuments Preservation Ordinance
to protect earlier settlements and other
cultural heritage assets in 1937. To continue
the Germans’ effort of conserving movable
cultural heritage, the British opened the King
George V Memorial Museum (Plate 5) in
1940, today’s Dar es Salaam National
Museum and House of Culture. They also
made provision for the preservation of game
under preservation proclamation number 41
of 1921. This scheduled the full classification
of reserves such as Kilimanjaro Reserve,
Mount Meru Reserve, including Engurdoto
Crater, Lake Natron Reserve, Northern
Railway Reserve, Selous Game Reserve,
Wami River Reserve and Mbulu Reserve. In
1941, the Serengeti plains were gazetted as a
national park under the Game Ordinance of
1940. However, this ordinance was reviewed
and amended to a new 1951 Game Ordinance
that led to the reformation of the Serengeti
National Park managed under the Tanganyika
National Parks until the time of
independence, that is, 1961. Despite such
conservation efforts which are positively
linked to environmental conservation pillar of
sustainable tourism, hunting and adventurous
tourism with their negative impacts to
environment were highly promoted, and
Tanzania saw many rich royals and high-class
tourists and hunters coming for such purposes
(see Chachage, 2003). In addition, the formal
centralized conservation in the form of a
written legal system continued to ignore local
community participation and their spiritual
and social concerns over the heritage. It
created land-use conflicts, antagonisms, and a
deep-seated resistance to conservation
strategies within the hearts of local
Tanzanians.
Plate 5. Old Building of Dar es Salaam Museum and House of Culture
Source: Lwoga (2010)
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The colonialists attempted to create a single
tourist destination of East Africa (Ouma,
1970). Earlier on, after the great depression of
1923 to 1933 which halted the growth of the
tourism industry, efforts to officiate and
formalize travel organizations resulted in the
formation of the East African Publicity
Association
(EAPA).
However,
the
association did not last long due to the onset
of World War II. In 1948, the East African
Tourist Travel Association (EATTA) was
established to, again, promote tourism in the
region (Ibid.). The association became the
founder member of the International Union of
Official Travel Organization (IUOTO),
today’s UNWTO, and made the region to
comply with international conventions. Such
efforts attracted the Third International
Congress of African Touring which took
place in Nairobi and 126 countries,
companies and delegates from Africa and
other parts of the world attended the congress
(Ouma, 1970). Apart from publicizing the
region to the world, the congress’s
recommendations had a positive impact on
Tanzania’s development in transport,
immigration formalities, national parks,
archaeological sites and many others (ibid.).
In 1949, EATTA was elected as an allied
member of the American Society of Travel
Agents (ASTA). By 1955 it had offices in
London, North America, South Africa and
Southern Rhodesia (Ouma, 1970). Although
EATTA supported mostly the local
Europeans
socially,
culturally
and
economically to engage in tourism business
(Ranja, 2003), it strengthened the region’s
and individual country’s position in global
tourism. For instance, tourist flows to
Tanzania increased from 5,300 in 1947 to
10,600 in 1957 (Table 1). However, about
70% of tourists to Tanzania entered the region
through Nairobi (Ouma, 1970). Such regional
efforts were affected by separatist movements
initiated by Uganda after forming her own
Tourist Advisory Board (Ibid.). Uganda was
later followed by Kenya which was the first in
the region to appoint a Minister for Tourism
in 1958.
Table 1: Tourist Arrivals in Tanganyika Before Independence
Year
1947
1948
1949
1950
1951
1952
1953
1954
1955
1956
1957
1958
1959
1960
No. of Tourists
5300
8590
?
3720
5120
5830
6700
6210
7930
9500
10600
7630
7880
7530
Source: Ouma (1970); Vojislav (1972).
Despite the setback of some colonial policies,
legislative and institutional frameworks in
relation to local communities’ development,
local culture, local environment and
economy, the colonial era formalized and
framed crucial features for subsequent
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12
heritage conservation and modern tourism
sector in Tanzania. Most of the natural and
cultural heritage sites, infrastructures and
facilities made during the colonial period are
still in use today, and others form the bases
for tourist visits in the country. Furthermore,
they set the basis for today’s wildlife,
adventure, hunting and cultural heritage
tourism. The colonial efforts of establishing a
single tourist destination by combining the
three countries including Tanzania, Uganda
and Kenya are also attempted today. This is
because tourism promotion power can be
enhanced by individual efforts and a
combination of unique attractions from each
country.
The pitfall of the colonial modern tourism
was
that
local
communities
were
marginalized from the rim of management
and enjoyment of the tourism sector. This
situation was in contrast to the later principles
of sustainable tourism which emphasize
community involvement and benefits from
tourism (Mowforth & Munt, 1998). It is
probable that the situation caused doubts
about the interests of modern tourism and
conservation as they were perceived to favor
and satisfy more the westerners than black
Africans. Consequently, modern tourism
development after independence passed
through the period of struggle and resistance
from local communities as shown in the next
section.
4.3
Tourism after Independence: The
Socialist Struggles and Achievements
Although the country noted a slight drop in
the number of tourists in the year 1961 when
it got its independence, and in 1964 during
the Zanzibar Revolution (Table 2), generally
during the 1960s and 1970s under socialist or
Ujamaa policies, there were substantial
achievements and tourism growth in
Tanzania. The growth was influenced by
presence of political will to strengthen
tourism institutional and legal frameworks,
and to invest in tourist facilities and
infrastructure. The Tanzania National Tourist
Board (TNTB) was established in 1962
(Salazer, 2009). It was followed by the Hotel
Act in 1963 which provided the mandate for
the creation of a Hotel Board (Wade et al.,
2001). In 1964 tourism acquired a Ministerial
portfolio, ‘the Ministry of Information and
Tourism’. The government also created state
hospitality enterprises under a variety of
finance and management agreement with
foreign companies. For instance, in 1965, the
Kilimanjaro Hotel was opened. Later, the
National Development Corporation (NDC)
invested in several hotels. These included the
earlier mentioned New Africa Hotel of the
colonial times, Lake Manyara Hotel, New
Arusha Hotel and Bahari Beach Hotel as well
as several lodges in Ngorongoro Conservation
Area and Serengeti National Park (Ranja,
2003). To strengthen the quality of
accommodation services, the Hotel and
Tourism Training Institute (HTTI) was
established in 1969 to train and produce
skilled manpower for the hotel industry.
Consequently, tourism became the fourth
largest industry in terms of foreign income
earnings after coffee, cotton and sisal in
1960s (Ouma, 1970).
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13
Table 2: Tourist Arrivals and Receipts in Tanzania, 1961 to 1980
Year
1961
1962
1963
1964
1965
1966
1967
1968
1969
1970
1971
1972
1973
1974
1975
1976
1977
1978
1979
1980
No. of Visitors
7350
9260
9880
7140
8280
13460
20,180
58,819
68,400
199,200
143,500
175,500
155,412
165,839
118,000
148,500
78,000
84,021
Receipts (USD Millions)
13.39
13.65
27.66
20.50
12.81
9.89
10.52
9.00
12.73
16.94
19.70
Source: Ouma (1970:27)
To improve the tourism institutional
framework, the earlier TNTB was disbanded
in 1969 and the Tanzanian Tourist
Corporation (TTC) was formulated in 1971.
TTC was tasked to develop and market
Tanzania tourism products domestically and
internationally. TTC also took over the
NDC’s holdings and responsibilities (Ranja,
2003, Luvanga &Shitundu, 2003). This meant
that the government decided to systematically
control and invest heavily in tourism sector,
and played a central role towards tourism
development. In 1972, the Hotel Levy Act
was formulated to generate funds from
accommodation operators. However, hotel
expansion was restricted to the TTC (Ranja,
2003) through its subsidiary Tanzania Hotel
Investment Limited (TAHI) which controlled
the Bahari Beach, New Africa Hotels, and
several lodges. TAHI also owned a film
company (Tanzania Wildlife Safari Limited),
travel agency and tour operator firms (Ouma,
1970). TAHI collaborated with the Hallmark
Hotels (Tanzania) Limited where the majority
shares were owned by the British
Management Company known as the
Hallmark Hotels Over-seas Ltd (Ranja, 2003).
It should be noted that all such developments
were limited to the government. This was
influenced by the Ujamaa policy which did
not allow private involvements in most
sectors of the economy (Wade et al., 2001).
Notwithstanding the Ujamaa policy, with
such developments there was a high
expectation that tourism would grow further
in the 1970s (Little, 1970). The government,
therefore, planned and budgeted for investing
substantially in tourism development.
However, the plans received serious criticism
from the public, led by some members of the
Tanganyika African National Union (TANU)
Youth League of the University College of
Dar es Salaam (today’s University of Dar es
Salaam). The league, through The Standard
newspaper and several forums, criticized the
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14
government efforts to invest highly in modern
tourism industry (Shivji, 1969). By 1973, the
tourism debate in the Standard Newspaper
which lasted for three months, was the first
serious political debate in print in Tanzania
(Shivji, 1969).
The key concerns of Tanzanians who
criticized the government plans to invest in
tourism were the following: (i) tourism was
seen as widening the gap between rural and
urban which the socialist country (Tanzania)
was fighting it (Shivji, 1969); (ii) investing
and developing the tourism industry was
equated to reinforcing the colonial and neocolonial social, cultural and economic
relationships; (iii) the positive economic
impacts of tourism could not justify its
development over the theoretical analysis of
its negative economic, social, moral, cultural
and environmental impacts; (iv) the
supporters of investing and developing
tourism in the country by then rationalized
their decisions basing on economic benefits
regardless
of
social,
cultural
and
environmental consequences (Ibid.); (v) since
the success of tourism depends primarily on
its being accepted in the metropolitan
countries, it is one of those appendage
industries which give rise to a neo-colonialist
relationship and cause underdevelopment
(Mahiga, 1969); (vi) tourism industry and its
planners were seen as contravening the
objectives of Socialism and Self-Reliance
enunciated by the Arusha Declaration
(Mahiga, 1969). In general, the debate was
like a fight between those who opted out of
tourism and its global economic connections
(capitalist theorists) and socialists.
It is probable that such opposition to the
tourism industry development had its roots in
some of the earlier mentioned pre-colonial
and colonial events and policies which
undermined and neglected locals’ concerns.
There was little indigenous capital for
investment in tourism industry (Ranja, 2003),
and few Tanzanians were involved in tourism
as entrepreneurs. It is also probable that
Tanzanians understood what was highlighted
by Britton (1982) and Mowforth and Munt
(1998) that an international tourism industry
is a product of metropolitan capitalist
enterprise. The superior entrepreneurship
skills, resources and commercial power of
metropolitan companies enable them to
dominate many tourist destinations in subSahara Africa. With the concerns of the critics
of tourism industry development, the
government invested few funds to develop
tourism facilities and infrastructures, and
depressed the private and foreign ownership
of tourism businesses (Wade, et al., 2001).
In the late 1970’s, with break-up of the East
African Community and the closure of
Kenya-Tanzania border in 1977 there was a
sharp fall of the tourists from Kenya on which
Tanzania depended much (Ouma, 1970). The
number of foreign tourists fell from 166,000
in 1976 to around 80,000 by the end of the
decade (Table 2). It was within this context
that most government-owned hotels, lodges
and access roads deteriorated due to a severe
shortage of foreign exchange. Such a downfall of the tourist flows was also fueled by the
war against the Iddi Amin regime of
1978/1979, which led to poor economic
performance of the country. Apparently, such
a down-fall in the tourism industry taught the
government a lesson of the risks embedded in
running tourism businesses. The idea of
involving and leaving tourism business to the
private sector started in the early 1980s with
reforms in political and economic policies as
explained in the next sections.
4.4
Tourism under the New Political and
Economical Policies
The country was persuaded to change its
economic and political philosophy in the mid
1980s by the supranational institutions such as
the World Bank and International Monetary
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15
Fund (IMF) and some developed countries
(Wade et al, 2001). The reforms led to the
liberalization of trade, increased privatization of
the economy and reduced monopoly of
government’s intervention in tourism. This
meant that the government decided to transfer
responsibilities of running and managing
tourism business to the private sector through
business partnership. Such economic and
political liberalization were implemented
through the Structural Development Programme
(SDP) which ended in 1989 and later, the
Economic and Social Adjustment Policy
(ESAP).
In contrast to the Arusha Declaration’s
objective of expansion of state ownership, it
was necessary for the government to off-load
tourism business to the private sector as it had
already failed to achieve the objective of
domestic accumulation of investment funds
(Curry, 1978). This scenario shows the
influence of the supranational institutions and
developed countries and their policies of
extending the capitalist economy and
globalization in shaping African tourism. By
accepting such political and economic changes,
the country entered into good relation with the
developed countries. It had also to accept and
adhere to the interests of the developed world
while hoping to benefit through loans, foreign
investment and receiving more foreign tourists
and currency. Indeed, tourism development and
tourist flows in the country grew from 54,000
tourists in 1983 to 627,325 tourists in 1999 with
the rising of foreign currency earnings rising
from US$ 12 million in 1983 to US$ 733
million in 1999 (See Table 3).
Table 3: Tourist Arrivals and Receipts in Tanzania, 1981 to 1999
Year
No. of Visitors
1981
1982
1983
1984
1985
1986
1987
1988
1989
1990
1991
1992
1993
1994
1995
1996
1997
1998
1999
92,000
71,290
54,000
64,000
81,821
103,361
130,851
130,343
137,889
153,000
186,800
201,744
230,166
261,595
295,312
326,188
359,096
482,331
627,325
Receipts (USD
Millions)
21.61
15.22
12.81
9.38
10.30
20.00
31.05
40.40
60.00
65.00
94.73
120.04
146.84
192.10
259.44
322.37
392.39
570.00
733.28
Source: Ouma (1970:27).
In 1991, the monopoly of government
operations in tourism business was
completely transferred to the private sector
through the first National Tourism Policy of
Tanzania. The policy emphasized the
improvements of private sector participation,
and led to the approval of many tourism
projects (Anderson, 2010). As one of the
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achievements under the policy, private sector
participation in tourism improved and many
tourism enterprises, in collaboration with the
Tanzania Investment Centre (TIC, formerly
known as the Investment Promotion Centre)
were approved. Furthermore, the Tanzania
Tourist Board (TTB) was established under
the Tanzania Tourist Board (Amendment) Act
of 1992 after the disbandment of the TTC in
1992. In 1993, TAHI became jointly owned
by the Tanzania government and one of the
leading hotel operators in the world, the
Accor Group of France. As a result, the Accor
Group became co-owner of the Novotel
Mount Meru, Lobo Wildlife Lodge,
Ngorongoro Wildlife Lodge, Seronera
Wildlife Lodge, Mafia Island Fishing Lodge
and Lake Manyara Hotel. The state remained
with four lodges in the northern circuit, Mt.
Meru Hotel, the Mafia Island Hotel and the
Kilimanjaro Hotel (Ranja, 2003; Wade et al.,
2001). Consequently, there was a notable
expansion and growth in travel, hospitality
and leisure industries. Furthermore, the
Tourism Master Plan was prepared in 1996 to
provide tourism development strategies and
action plans up to 2005.
4.5
Struggle for a Global Tourism Market
and Sustainability
In 1998, the country reviewed the 1991
National Tourism Policy through the Ministry
of Natural Resources and Tourism. The
review was influenced by significant global
and national political, economic and social
changes such as the rapid development of
technology and increased competition in the
tourism industry. The 1992 Rio Declaration
on Environment and Development and
Agenda 21 related to sustainable development
also influenced the review of the 1991
tourism policy. The new tourism policy which
was introduced in 1999 aimed to emphasize
the promotion of the sustainable tourism that
is culturally and socially acceptable,
ecologically
friendly,
environmentally
sustainable, and economically viable (URT,
1999).
The new policy also aimed at making
Tanzania a favored tourist destination,
increasing international tourist flows in the
country to 1.2 million tourists by 2010, and
increasing tourism earnings from 16% to 2530% by the year 2010 (URT, 1999).
Consequently, four years after the publication
of the reviewed policy, the National Tourism
Master Plan of 1996 was updated in 2002.
The plan noted the following salient features
of the tourism sector in Tanzania by 2002: (i)
tourism was largely concentrated in the
Northern Wildlife Areas which was reaching
its limits of acceptable use; (ii) the country
has a wealth of natural and man-made
attractions which are untapped because of
poor access and infrastructure and lack of
utilities; and, (iii) there were poor service
standards, poor quality guides, low quality
tour operators and lack of quality
accommodation. The following were the
strategies for tourism development provided
by the plan that aimed to counteract the
mentioned shortcomings: (i) improving
knowledge and know-how; (ii) attracting
investment capital; (iii) enhancing and
expanding the tourism product; (iv)
improving service standards; (v) improving
access and infrastructure; (vi) improving
security; (vii) creating greater market
awareness;
and,
(viii)
strengthening
institutional and economic linkages (URT,
2002).
The outcomes of the new policy and
strategies include: the improvement of
tourism investments as the number of licensed
tourism operators has grown to about 705
companies; more giant international airlines
such as the Royal Dutch Line (KLM), British
Airways and others increased the number of
flights to Tanzania; the incoming of investor
outreach programmes, such as the Multilateral
Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA)-Swiss
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17
Partnership Programme for Investments in
Sub-Saharan Africa (MSP) with Tanzania,
financed by the Swiss government. Such a
programme produced several investments
such as the renovation of Kilimanjaro Hotel
in 2003 which was opened in 2005 as a five
star hotel managed by the Kempinski brand
and, today, the Hyatt (MIGA, 2005). Other
hotels such as Kunduchi Beach Resort (Plate
6), the White Sands Hotel (Plate 7) and many
others were developed along the coast.
Tourist flows grew from 501,669 in 2000 to
867,994 tourists in 2011 (Table 4) and
receipts grew from US$ 738 Millions in 2002
to 1,353 Millions in 2011 (URT, 2012).
Plate 6. Kunduchi Beach Resort
Plate 7. White Sands Hotel
www.kunduchi.com
www.hotelwhitesands.com
On the other hand, the country relatively
failed to achieve the earlier mentioned main
pillars of sustainable tourism. From the
economic sustainability point of view, the
negative economic impacts such as economic
leakage experienced from increasing foreign
experts’ employment and importation were
partially solved. A number of foreign tour
operators and chain hotels [such as the
Southern Sun, Holiday Inn, Protea group and
many others] came to invest in Tanzania.
Some of them were blamed for employing
and paying higher salaries to foreigners than
the majority local employees. The national
carrier, the Tanzania airline (Air Tanzania)
deteriorated in its performance. Tourists’
contact with local communities was noted to
be minimal, thus limited direct benefits to
communities. The continual focus on wildlife
tourism has also made tourists to perceive
Tanzania as the add-on to their safari tours to
Kenya (Wade et al., 2001). In addition, the
achievement of the National Tourism Policy’s
(1999) objective of receiving one million
tourists by 2010 was unlikely. Instead, only
782,699 tourists were received in 2010 (Table
4). The reason for such a failure was
contributed by the global financial crisis or
‘credit crunch’ of 2007 to 2009, constant
terrorist threats and the little tourism
marketing
and
promotion
budgets.
Nevertheless, in 2012 the country managed to
achieve the 1999 policy objective of receiving
one million tourists (See Table 4).
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Table 4: Tourist Arrivals and Receipts in Tanzania, 2000 to 2011
Year
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
2012
No. of Visitors
501,669
525,000
575,000
576,000
582,807
612.754
644,124
719,031
770,376
714,367
782,699
867,994
1,077,058
Receipts (USD Millions)
739.06
725.00
730.00
731.00
746.06
823.05
950.00
1,198.76
1,288.69
1,159.82
1,254,50
1,353.29
1,712,75
Source: URT (2010a; 2012)
Despite the success in promoting investments
in the tourism industry, relatively few local
Tanzanians own international class tourism
facilities. Local communities are mainly
limited to small and medium tourism
enterprises.
The
chances
for
local
entrepreneurs entering into the first class
tourist hotel business and succeeding without
partnership with transnational corporations
are limited (Ranja, 2003:22). Salazar (2009)
and Chachage (2007) noted that while
Tanzania loses about two thirds of tourism
foreign earnings, most of the high class
tourism businesses such as hunting, tour
operators, air travel, hotels and leisure
facilities are foreign owned. Lack of capital,
intense competition within the sector,
seasonality of the business and language
problems are key factors hindering many
Tanzanians from participating in world-class
tourism business (Luvanga & Shitundu,
2003). The situation reflects the weaknesses
of the 1999 National Tourism Policy and
2002 Tourism Master Plan in terms of
ensuring the achievement of socio-cultural
and economic sustainability as pillars of
sustainable tourism. The policy and master
plan only focused much on promoting tourism
business and foreign investments as well as
opening up new tourist destinations and
increasing international tourist flows.
Although there are serious negative economic
impacts of tourism, apparently the highly
publicized tourism’s economic benefits have
convinced the public to support its existence.
Today, the locals and the public in general are
probably
overwhelmed
by
perceived
economic benefits (from the statistical point
of view) in such a way that there is little
concern for the negative socio-economic,
cultural and environmental impacts. Despite
today’s public support for tourism, there are
still problems related to how economic
benefits are equally and equitably channeled
to the local communities (Chachage, 2007).
In the environmental and sociocultural sustainability perspectives, the
growing conflicts between the community
and management of protected areas,
particularly when the rising needs of people
conflict with the management needs to
expand or create buffer zones, affect
environment conservation and socio-cultural
integrity. This is happening in such areas as
the northern tourist circuit including
Ngorongoro Conservation Area (NCA) and
Zanzibar Island where high flow of tourists
and community destruction of heritage assets
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19
hinders the achievement of environmental and
socio-cultural pillars of sustainable tourism.
This was to the extent that the NCA was
threatened to be removed from the list of
World Heritage Sites (Ihucha, 2009). In
addition, poverty of local community, low
livelihood and poor social services still persist
in most rural areas where such tourism
attractions and heritage, of world or
international class, are located. In general, the
achievement of sustainable tourism, that is,
tourism which is culturally and socially
acceptable, environmentally sustainable and
economically viable, required tourism
planners and policy makers to reflect such
local perspectives as community participation
in tourism activities, investment and
management, and local community’s interests
and concerns in tourism development.
4.6
Recalling the Local Perspectives for
Sustainable Tourism
The idea of diversifying away from the
natural resources by promoting and
developing cultural tourism (people’s
tourism) in Tanzania was initiated in 1990s as
a struggle to involve communities in tourism,
promote socio-cultural and economic benefits
to communities and minimize tourism
pressure on the natural environment. A
number of cultural tour operators and cultural
tourism programmes grew and are practiced
in the context of Community Based Tourism
(CBT). By 2008, there were about 23 cultural
tourism projects (Plate 8) operating in various
parts of Tanzania, under the Cultural Tourism
Programmes (CTPs) and coordinated by the
Tanzania Tourist Board and the Ministry of
Natural Resources and Tourism. The projects
received about thirty thousand visitors a year
in areas where local communities organized
themselves and embarked on tourism
activities. Apart from the CTPs, museums and
other historical and archaeological areas such
as Bagamoyo, Olduvai Gorge and Laetoli,
Isimila Stone Age site, Kilwa World Heritage
Site and others are now developed for tourism
purposes.
Plate 8. Cultural Tourism Experience
Source: www.tanzaniaculturaltourism.com
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The government has also supported and provided positive environment for private, NonGovernmental Organizations and local communities to initiate and promote cultural tourism.
In addition, the government has initiated Wildlife Management Areas (WMAs) in national
parks in order to involve local communities in management and conservation of wildlife
resources. Cultural tourism has also considered the involvement, participation and
empowerment of local communities, and most of the CTPs are located in villages. However,
as Chachage (2003) pointed out, such community-based tourism projects will only be
beneficial to local community if communities are given some form of tenure over land and
tourism resources and power in decision-making. Some African countries such as Namibia
have been successful to delegate wildlife resource use rights to local communities who may
either use it or sub-lease to the private sector (Van der Duim, 2011).
In addition, since early 2000, there have been efforts to promote domestic tourism in the
country so as to provide opportunities for communities to enjoy and learn about their culture
and environment. The efforts are also considered as struggles to achieve environmental and
socio-cultural sustainability because they promote environmental and cultural awareness to
the public. Thus, efforts have been directed at promoting Tanzanian residents’ visits to the
country’s natural and cultural tourist attractions. For instance, entrance fees to national parks
and historical sites have been reduced for Tanzanian residents and citizens from Tshs 3,000/=
(about US Dollars 2) to Tshs 500/= (about US Dollars 0.3). Notwithstanding such efforts,
accommodation and transport costs are still considered to be too high for most citizens to
afford. No wonder the majority of domestic tourists include employees of big companies or
some government institutions, expatriate residents and group travel such as school students
(URT, 2002). In general, the rate of growth in domestic tourists in relation to international
tourists is still low (URT, 2010b).
5.0
CONCLUSION AND IMPLICATIONS
The paper aimed at critically studying the history of tourism in sub-Sahara Africa and
investigating the nature of tourism development in the region, factors shaping its
development, and its practices in relation to the three pillars of sustainable tourism with a
special focus on Tanzania Mainland. With the use of documentary review, in-depth
interviews and anecdotal evidences, the paper traced the evolution and development of
tourism in Tanzania, the challenges it faced and events and circumstances that made it to
grow with some periods of decline.
Tanzania is the cradle of humankind and, therefore, the base for the essence of early human
movements. This means that travel was the core component of tourism started in ancient
periods. Before colonialism, Tanzanians were moving and exploring their environment for
various purposes during their leisure time or for subsistence. The earliest urban centers like
Rhapta which developed before colonialism form localities where early international travels
for commercial purposes evolved in the country. For such reasons, in contrast to Salazer
(2009), Wade et al (2001) and Ouma (1970), the paper argues that, during the pre-colonial
period, sub-Sahara Africa was not a dark and unsafe region because some features of tourism
and travels for different purposes were practiced. The paper also agrees with Okpoko &
Okpoko (2002) and Lwoga (2011) that with the coming of the colonialists, the early travels in
sub-Sahara Africa evolved into modern tourism. In addition, similar factors that influenced
tourism in Europe and North America as noted by Page (2009), Cook et al (2006), Cooper
(2005), Goeldner et al (2000), Theobald (1998), Holloway (1998), Cruz (1997) and Lickorish
& Jenkins (1997) influenced tourism development and growth in Tanzania. The factors
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include the introduction of tourist facilities, services, travel networks and infrastructure; the
improvement in transport and communication technologies; the growth in trade and socioeconomical movements; economic prosperity and introduction of paid holidays; wars and
political situation of the destination; regional and international cooperation which promoted
international travels and relationships; developments in conservation of heritage; increased
efforts in destination marketing and promotion, and; the increase in safety and security.
As earlier suggested by Wade et al (2001) and Lwoga (2011), in political context, some subSahara African countries such as Tanzania experienced different political movements from
socialist to capitalist aspects that greatly shaped the way tourism is being perceived by locals,
and the way it is run and managed today. The influence from supranational institutions and
the developed world changed the political and economical policies of the country from the
socialist to capitalist direction. Such a change caused the ideological shift from the
‘Dependencia School’ to the ‘Bargaining School’ (Brown, 2000). Within the socialist
thinking after independence, the ‘Dependencia School’ viewed international tourism as a
means where capitalist and developed nations exploit and put Tanzania at a disadvantage
position in the international economy. On the other hand, the ‘Bargaining School’ believed
that the power relationships between rich and poor countries evolve and shift over time. That,
through international tourism, Tanzania’s position in international economy will be attained if
the country follows the right path and policies (Ibid.). While the former ‘Dependencia
School’ was seen as a hindrance to international tourism development as shown in this paper,
the latter ‘Bargaining School’ promoted tourism investments, in particular, from the mid1980s with the reforms in economical and political spheres. With the promise to contribute to
community developments and to counteract the negative effects of traditional mass tourism,
the country engulfed sustainable tourism approach from the 1990s. The sustainable tourism
approach was adopted in sub-Sahara Africa with the hope of addressing the historical
problems and healing the wounds caused by the denial of community rights and concerns in
tourism development. However, the issues of achieving the core pillars of sustainable tourism
and satisfying the long-term local community’s interests within the contexts of globalization,
and developed and developing countries power relation are still doubted. The history has
indicated that most countries in sub-Sahara Africa, in particular, Tanzania focus much on
economic benefits of tourism depicted through statistical figures while community’s rights
and concerns over the use and exploitation of their natural and cultural resources are denied.
Moreover, poverty is still persisting in areas which are endowed with tourist attractions of
world and national heritage.
Tourism management policy makers and institutions in sub-Sahara Africa and, in Tanzania in
particular, should be reminded that tourism was not brought as a package by colonialists as it
is commonly believed. Its development was mostly locally since the earlier periods before
colonialism. Later, it became a process of struggle and faced local resistance in line with
historical events such as colonialism and the neo-colonization processes. Such events, in
particular neocolonialism still dominate today’s tourism decision making and administrative
processes in sub-Sahara Africa. Global policies and social and legislative set-up still shape
the way the north (developed countries) dominates tourism industry in the south (developing
countries) (Momforth & Munt, 1998). If not implemented to address the problems of local
communities, the foreign-originated approach sustainable tourism will only be perceived as a
neocolonial tool and a dream in sub-Sahara Africa. The local communities have only been
acknowledged as important stakeholders in the theoretical explanations of sustainable
tourism, but for a long time neglected in tourism development and management practices.
Furthermore, as earlier mentioned by Chachage (2003; 2007), the historical denial of local
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community’s rights of participation and ownership of tourism has to be stopped. Tourism
development and growth in sub-Sahara African countries like Tanzania should be designed to
involve and benefit the local community. This can be achieved by empowering locals in
terms of knowledge, attitudes and skills (through training), ownership of their local resources
such as land, and financial capacity to manage and own tourist destinations and facilities. It
can also be achieved by incorporating local community’s concerns and needs in the
formulation of sustainable tourism policies and strategies. As argued by Mowforth & Munt
(1998), the foreign-generated concept sustainable tourism should be re-designed, planned and
implemented in sub-Sahara Africa in a bottom-up approach and in the local context to serve
the denied long-term interests of local communities who are the natural owners and
custodians of natural and cultural tourist attractions. Thus, the next reviews of the National
Tourism Policy and Tourism Master Plan should address the mentioned issues and put
provisions for ensuring community participation in tourism activities, investments and
management and for protecting their rights and concerns over tourism development.
Today’s tourism managers, planners and policy makers should also learn that the
achievement of sustainable tourism will depend much on their fulfillment of the following
issues that have, throughout the history, appeared to be crucial determinants for tourism
development and its benefits to the local economy: satisfying such traditional factors for
tourism development as developing infrastructure and tourist facilities; maintaining peace,
security and safety in the country; improving the quality of services like tour guiding and
hospitality through training; improving transport networks and travel terminals; investing
strongly in the promotion of tourist attractions, and strengthening the country’s economy and
manpower bases by improving local production (industries), tourism revenue collections,
tourism education systems and local entrepreneurship. This will ensure that the country and
its people benefit from tourism development and investments in the arena of globalization
and developing-developed country relations.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
The author would like to acknowledge all tourism and history scholars who provided
constructive comments on this paper, particularly Mr. Michael Patrick (Open University of
Tanzania) and others who gave their comments during the International Conference on
Sustainable Tourism in Developing Countries (ICST-DC) held on 8th – 9th August 2012 in
Zanzibar.
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