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Friday, 30 November, 2018, 15 : 06 PM [IST]
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‘The view about Zanzibar will change once we are able to attract Indian film industry’
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Zanzibar is looking at imparting professional training to create skilled
manpower for its tourism industry, and in this direction, India can play a
crucial role, believes Mahmoud Thabit Kombo, Minister for Information,
Tourism & Heritage, Revolutionary Government of Zanzibar. According
to him, time is opportune to tap film production units from India to
create awareness about Zanzibar among the Indian population. He talks
to Disha Shah Ghosh about a range of topics.
Q What is the scenario of tourism in
Zanzibar from the Asian market in
general and India in particular?
From 1990 to 2000, the growth of tourism in
Zanzibar was tremendously high, much more
than what the government could cope up with.
Since 2000, the government put a dedicated
master plan in place. According to the latest
statistics, while Tanzania records around
1.3 million tourists, Zanzibar receives half a
million tourists a year. However, if one takes
into account the per capita ratio, Zanzibar is
higher than Tanzania mainland.
Since a long time, Zanzibar’s top most
source market has been Europe because of
the colonial linkages, followed by Middle
East because of the Oman rule. Asia was still
a virgin territory as a tourism source market.
However, the linkage with India particularly
is over 500 years old because of the trade
relations. The coasts of Goa, Gujarat and
Tamil Nadu were our trading routes, and the
Goan influence is visible in the 300-year-old
Roman Catholic Church in Zanzibar. Indians
travelled to Zanzibar for business, teaching,
spice farming and plantation and the peoples
movement continued to surge. The biggest
Gujarati and Goan population in East Africa
back then was in Zanzibar. That’s why, in
Zanzibar, we have fifth and sixth generations
of Zanzibaris with Indian origin.
Q Why did the Zanzibar government
appoint a representation in India? What
is your global market plan in the current
volatile atmosphere?
In 2005, after our current President came
to power, he realised that we haven’t really
explored India for tourism despite the cultural
and historical linkages. Our focus till then
was largely on Europe also because of their
investment in our country. Therefore, it was
decided to have a representative in key Asian
markets and the first country was India.
We decided to appoint Jilesh Babla as
our representative here because he is well
aware of the Indian market and is also a
third generation Zanzibari. Currently, we
are recording around 7,500 to 8,000 tourists
from India annually. Our focus now is to
increase this number since we are much
closer to Indians culturally and also in
food preferences. We have seen a gradual
increase in tourist numbers since Jilesh came
onboard. However, what we have realised is
Indians tend to visit destinations that they
are familiar with. Most Indians are unaware
of where Zanzibar is and its offerings. We
are working towards bridging that gap and
create awareness about culture, heritage
and the tourism product we have to offer.
We have noticed an increase in Indians
coming to Tanzania for safaris. This is also
because a couple of films have been shot in
Tanzania. Once we are able to attract the
Indian film industry, the view of Indian tourists
towards our country will change since movies
provide a window to the world.
Our President had envisaged how the world
would change and therefore it was decided
to have a diverse market strategy in place.
The focus on Asia was a step in that direction.
The direct charter flight from China is doing
well. We have recorded an increase in tourists
from the Middle East with direct connections
by Oman Air and Qatar Airways. Ethiopian
Airlines has helped in bringing in good
number of tourists. We haven’t ignored South
America either because the spending power
of their middle income group has increased.
Europe, however, still continues to remain our
No 1 source market.
Q There is an impression that Zanzibar is
an expensive destination, your views?
At the moment, we are looking at attracting
high-end tourists and not become a mass
market. Zanzibar is a small destination in
terms of size. We would reach a saturation
point if we receive 700,000 tourists annually.
Also, the service and products we offer are in
the premium category.
Q What kind of opportunity do you see
from India in terms of investment?
The Zanzibar government has realised that
skilled manpower will be the backbone of our
tourism economy. Therefore, the government
is proactively working towards imparting
training and education, and this can be a perfect
opportunity for India. We need lecturers from
India since the Indian hospitality is among the
best in the world. In fact, nearly 5,600 students
from Tanzania are studying in India. However,
India has its own shortage and therefore,
export of talent is an issue.
Q What kind of benefits are you expecting
with the launch of Air Tanzania Mumbai
– Dar es Salaam flights?
We are in discussions with the trade associations
in India to attract small investment conferences
from India, which are our main focus. If we are
able to secure 30% of slots on these aircraft
for tourist flow to Zanzibar, which would
include leisure travellers, honeymooners and
weddings, we will be able to create a footprint
in the Indian market at a much larger pace.
Moreover, we have received interests from
tour operators for some exemptions for film
shoots. Looking at the economies of scale, we
will be happy to consider these requests on
case to case basis. Also, as a destination, we
need to prepare ourselves for such long stay
visitors.
Q The soaring oil prices and the currency
fluctuations are bound to impact tourist
traffic. How is Zanzibar geared to address
this?
Our economists are working on this and the
Central Bank of Tanzania is doing a great job
to stabilize the currency and absorbing the
shock. In fact, the Tanzanian Shilling to the US
Dollar exchange rate has been stable for quite
some time. However, oil importation per litre
cost has increased, and adequate measures
are being put in place to address concerns.
disha.shah@saffronsynergies.in
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