Financial muscles of Tanzania’s conservation, tourism wings restored
The government’s latest initiative is billed to address cash crunch the key institutions face.
SUNDAY June 15, 2025
By Patty Magubira
The Tranquility News Reporter, Tanzania
Lawmakers and conservation and tourism captains in Tanzania have expressed optimism towards the government’s fiscal decision to reinstate financial autonomy to two key institutions.
The Tanzania National Parks (TANAPA) and the Ngorongoro Conservation Area Authority (NCAA) have been required to remit all revenues they collect to the government’s consolidated fund lately, subsequently having to request for necessary overhead from the Treasury.
TANAPA and NCAA, the most strategic state-run agencies at the core of the conservation and tourism industry that earns the country’s economy $3.9 billion annually, are prestigious bodies mandated to manage 21 national parks and the world’s unique conservation area.
Once a portion of the Serengeti National Park, Ngorongoro Conservation Area is a multi-land use area in which wildlife co-exist with Maasai, a semi-nomadic pastoralist community whose members move from one place to another in search for livestock pasture.
Owing to severely affected routine patrols and infrastructure maintenance, a lengthy bureaucratic procedures involved in the process of requesting for operations costs (OC) proved to be fraught with challenges, including delays that somehow compromise the conservation and tourism drive.
With good infrastructure, tourists will be even more interested in the products they yearn for. Challenges in accessing the products reduce visitor satisfaction,” Mr Elirehema Maturo, the Executive Director of Tanzania Association of Tour Operators.
Stakeholders privy to TANAPA and NCAA operations, say the duo deserves at least 70 per cent of their own generated revenues to bankroll conservation and tourism undertakings.
Financial independence is critical for sustaining operations of TANAPA and NCAA and advancing conservation and tourism efforts within the natural-resource rich country.
The decline in the percentage to be retained notwithstanding, this change is anticipated to benefit not only the custodians of conservation and tourism themselves, but also the broader national interests.
As the new policy goes into effect, there is an optimistic outlook for improved operational efficiency and enhanced conservation outcomes in Tanzania’s renowned wildlife and heritage sites.
“For us, who promote tourist sites and serve visitors, conservation institutions retaining a portion of the receipts they collect will timely improve the infrastructure in our parks and various conservation activities,” said Tanzania Association of Tour Operators (TATO) Executive Director, Mr Elirehema Maturo.
Conserving wildlife and other natural resources is a very costly undertaking, said the TATO Chief, explaining that it required machinery, vehicles, conservationists and salaries.
The government is incurring huge costs to ensure these areas always receive funds for conservation and tourism activities, said Mr Maturo, adding:
“Leaders have exercised great wisdom in this matter; we thank them for recognising the challenge compounded by the operations costs system and pledging to walk the rhetoric during the 2025/26 financial year, if the speech by the Minister for Finance and Planning in Parliament is anything to go by.”
TATO called on relevant institutions to organise themselves to ensure these funds are properly spent for all infrastructure and conservation activities to meet international standards and the country to attract more tourists.
“With good infrastructure, tourists will be even more interested in the products they yearn for. Challenges in accessing the products reduce visitor satisfaction,” Mr Maturo cautioned.
It is expected that the retention system will also go a long way in reducing operational costs for tourism companies, as poor infrastructure damage their vehicles, leading to the failure of their businesses to make handsome profits.
The 2025 Election Manifesto of the ruling Chama Cha Mapinduzi eyes eight million local and foreign tourists by 2030, if re-electted, to boost the contribution of the travel and tourism industry to the country’s GDP from the existing 17 per cent to 20 per centΩ
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The Tranquility News Reporter/Sub Editor, Tanzania
Patty Magubira is an experienced environmental and business editor whose career started at the Tanzania's state-owned newspaper - The Daily News. He is a man of perfection. Aided by his extensive training as a community forestry expert before joining Tanzania School of Journalism. Magubira had successfully held various key posts in newsrooms, giving him an unmatched connections in media fraternity. Having worked as a bureau chief in Arusha and Mwanza, he managed to build a team work, boosting sales to the highest level ever. He was then promoted to a sub-editor after completing a training in Nairobi, Kenya. His incredible experience, critical thinking and exposure are critical to the quality of any media outlet.
