MONDAY January 27, 2025
By Patty Magubira
The Tranquility News Reporter, Tanzania
Players in the travel and tourism industry have expressed grave concern over sharp increase in levies the Tanzania government suddenly inflicted on tourists and service providers bound for game protected areas.
The new fees imposed about a week ago have triggered unrest in the industry in which customers pay for tourism packages a year or so ahead of their excursions.
The portal of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Tourism shows fees for tourists, tour guides, drivers and tourist vans destined for wildlife management areas (WMAs) and other game protected sites have been hiked by between 30 and 650 per cent.
This sharp increase has left a burden on tour companies, which are responsible for collecting the fees on behalf of the government.
We expected TAWA would emulate TANAPA and NCAA which have been in the game for decades,” Mr Henry Kimambo, the Vice Chairman of the Tanzania Association of Tour Operators.
The Vice Chairman of the Tanzania Association of Tour Operators (TATO), Mr Henry Kimambo, highlighted severe impacts on local businesses, warning: “By the end of the day, these tour firms will be overburdened and swerve off the road.”
Tour operators, guides and drivers have since Friday last week been counting losses, he said.
Kimambo said tourists already were adjusting their plans upon seeing the new rates, with the majority of them opting for more affordable options of sampling national parks or the Ngorongoro Conservation Area (NCA) whose fees remain unchanged.
TATO, Tanzania Local Tour Operators, Tanzania Tour Guides Association, and other advocacy and lobby outfits called the ministry immediately after the new fees were posted on its portal only to be told that the fees were already published in the official government’s gazette.
Tanzania National Parks (TANAPA) and Ngorongoro Conservation Area Authority (NCAA) are mandated to oversee national parks and the NCA, respectively, while Tanzania Wildlife Management Authority (TAWA) watches over WMAs and other game protected areas.
While TANAPA and the NCAA have long established a practice of consulting the industry players a year in advance about fee changes, TAWA introduced without adequate notification, catching the travel and tourism players with their pants down.
“We expected TAWA to emulate TANAPA and NCAA which have been in the game for decades,” said Mr Kimambo, explaining that a tour driver with a $40 worth license neither paid entrance fee nor conservation fee, as he was regarded being on duty, not sightseeing.
Tour firms were currently bearing the brunt of complying with the hiked fees to save face of both Tanzania Destination and the government, said Kimambo, pleading with TAWA to consider providing them with credit note for future use.
“Tourists blame the tour firms without knowing that we are a mere bridge for collecting the fees,” explained Kimambo, cautioning that once the bridge collapsed, tourists would directly pay the levies to the government and submit their grievances to it.
WMAs were deliberately established as a strategy for incorporating communities into conservation, with the government returning to them most of the receipts accrued to implement development projects they themselves identified.
We need an in-depth engagement in this regulation, involving tourism associations, local communities, Wildldife Management Areas, local government authorities and all other conservation and tourism players,” Mr Elirehema Maturo, the Tanzania Association of Tour Operators Executive Director.
The Chairman of the Tanzania Local Tour Operators (TLTO), Mr Samuel Diah, warned that the sudden fee hike would scare away tourists, thereby undermining the broader conservation goals of these areas.
“This surprise increase of fees is also shocking to communities running the WMAs, and taints the image of the country, contradicting efforts of our national leaders in promoting our tourist sittes overseas,” he said.
The TATO Executive Director, Mr Elirehema Maturo, pleaded with stakeholders to remain calm as the association liaises with the government to ensure the mishap is settled once and for all.
“We need an in-depth engagement in this regulation involving tourism associations, local communities, WMAs, local government authorities and all other conservation and tourism players,” he said.
The TAWA Communication Officer, Mr Beatus Maganja, however, said all stakeholders were engaged and that their inputs were taken into consideration during two meetings held on July 2024 in Dar es Salaam and Arusha.
Another meeting would be held before the end of this month to clarify on the fees, he pledged without disclosing the date and the venue of the forthcoming meeting with the players.
The new regulation requires a person carrying out any non-consumptive use activity in buffer zone, corridors, dispersal area, and migratory routes including privately owned and managed land to pay fees prescribed therein.
Besides protected areas, the regulation covers village lands and any other area beyond the TAWA ambit, provided it is a wildlife habitat.
Much as both rural and urban settlements harbour birds, butterflies, snakes, monkeys, mongoose, and geckos, among others, this regulation subjects almost all Tanzanian citizens to the levies in dispute.
Tour guide Haga Kisila pleads with TAWA to waive the entry and conservation fees imposed on him and consider going back to the negotiation table.
About $7 (VAT inclusive) used to be paid for a tourist van heading for a WMA or any other game controlled area compared to $9 paid now, equivalent to $2 increase.
A driver, who used to pay $0.9 (VAT inclusive) entry fee, is now required to pay $7, equivalent to $6.1 increase.
The driver was, in addition, required to pay $2.30 conservation fee which has been hiked to over $9 (VAT inclusive), equivalent to $6.70 increase.
A tourist entitled to pay $11.80 for entry fee, is now required to foot $27.70, equivalent to about $16 increase, and $23 conservation fee, up from $17.70, equivalent to $5.30 increaseΩ
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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.
