Celebrating its 10th anniversary, the 2010 Honorees of the Tanzania Tourist Board (TTB)’s Annual Awards were announced by Shamsa S. Mwangunga, M.P., Tanzania’s minister for Natural Resources and Tourism, and outgoing president of the Africa Travel Association (ATA). The announcement took place at the Gala Tanzania Tourism Dinner on May 17 at the Sheraton Gambia Hotel. The Tanzania Award dinner has become a tradition and one of the highlights of the annual ATA Congress. Notable among the honorees was MTV News and Docs, named winner of the Tanzania Tourism Media Broadcast Award, in recognition of its one-and-half hour documentary on the “Summit on the Summit” Kilimanjaro Celebrity Climb aired nationwide on March 14.
Other honorees included Dar Guide, Media Print Award; Zara Tours, Tour Operator Humanitarian Award; Africa Adventure Consultants, Tour Operator Southern/Western Tourism Circuit; Immersion Journeys, Tour Operator New Product Development Award; and Asilia Africa’s Sayari Camp, Sustainable Tourism/Camps Award. This year, there were also three Special Recognitions for outstanding contribution to the development of tourism -- Jane Goodall, the late Drs. Louis and Mary Leakey, and retired Gen. Mirisho Sarakikya. “The American market continues to grow, and for the third consecutive year remains the number one source of visitors to Tanzania worldwide,” said Mwangunga.
Dr. Aloyce Nzuki, TTB managing director, noted that “as we celebrate the 10th anniversary of the Tanzania Tourism Awards program, we can be proud of that fact that we achieved two major objectives -- increasing the number of tourists from the North American market, and increasing the number of tour operators who offer stand alone safari programs to the Southern and Western circuits. These successes are due in large part to the strong private sector support from Tanzania itself as well as our partners globally. However, we want to emphasize, that as we work hard to continue to grow our tourism arrivals, TTB will remain vigilant about conservation, encouraging low impact/high quality tourism.”
This year, Tanzania also took advantage of the opportunity to use the World Cup in South Africa to reach out to the thousands of football fans coming to Africa from around the globe. According to Amant Macha, TTB marketing director, “with a less-than-four-hour flight from Johannesburg to Dar es Salaam on South African Airways, a Tanzanian safari is an ideal extension to a visit to South Africa. By hosting more than 25 South African-based tour operators, we were able to assist them in creating some excellent tour packages.” For more information, visit www.tanzaniatouristboard.com.