Tanzania to conduct tourism road shows in China

The Tanzania Tourist Board (TTB), the east African nation's tourism watchdog, said on Wednesday it has planned to conduct tourism road shows in four Chinese cities between June 19 and June 26.

Thomas Mihayo, the TTB Board of Directors Chairman, said the tourism road shows will be conducted by TTB and other Tanzanian tourism stakeholders in Beijing, Shanghai, Nanjing and Changsha.

Mihayo told a news conference in the capital Dar es Salaam that the objective of the road shows was to promote the interest of Tanzania in the growing Chinese travel market.

"The aim of the tourism road shows is to attract more tourists from the Chinese travel market by showcasing our tourist attractions in China's four main cities," he said, adding that another aim was to attract more potential Chinese investors in the country.

Tourism is one of the largest foreign exchange earners of Tanzania, contributing an average of 2 billion U.S. dollars to the country annually, which is equivalent to 25 percent of all exchange earnings, according to the government data.

A report released in June 2017 rated Tanzania's tourism industry as one of the fastest growing sectors in the country with figures showing a surge on tourist arrivals.

The report was jointly compiled by the Ministry of Natural Resources and Tourism, the Bank of Tanzania, the National Bureau of Statistics, the Immigration Department and the Zanzibar Commission for Tourism.