By Prosper Makene
Just one year after Tanzania President Samia Suluhu Hassan launched a historical documentary called ‘The Royal Tour’, exposing the beauty and tourist destinations of Tanzania, the country has seen a sharp increase in tourist arrivals. The East African country recorded a total of 1.4 million tourists between January and December 2022. The figures mark a 57.7 per cent increase when compared to the 620,000 tourist arrivals of the year prior to the launch of the film.
The Royal Tour film premiered first in New York on April 18th, 2022, and in Los Angeles on April 21st, 2022. The Royal Tour has since been unveiled at various cities in Tanzania, including Arusha, Dar Es Salaam, and Zanzibar.
As the tourism arrival stats have more than surpassed the initial projections, tourism authorities in the country have heralded President Hassan for starring in the documentary as the main character. Thanks to her role in the film, President Hassan showed the world that, Tanzania welcomes and embraces people of all kinds. The Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Natural Resources and Tourism Dr Hassan Abbas said of the president’s role in the documentary, her influence attracted “a total of 1.2 billion people around the globe” to notice Tanzania with most of them planning trips to visit its top destinations.
As stated by the Public Broadcast Services, 100 million people have watched the film, five million people watched it through social media, 20 million watch it through Apple TV and Amazon Network and 50 million watched it via Chinese social networks platforms.
Furthermore, on the international front, the film managed to receive rave reviews. Permanent Secretary Abbas speaking at a press conference in the country’s capital Dodoma said “Within the period of one year, the film has managed to go through international records and was named in high positions by three international rating firms involved in content rating due to the quality of its content.”
Moving into the future, the Tanzanian government will not rest on its laurels despite the huge success of the film. Along with the film’s success, the Tanzanian government pledges to continue implementing various projects to promote tourism destinations so as to achieve the set goal of reaching five million tourists per year as well as accumulating an income of Tsh 6 trillion per year. The pledge is very much feasible and highly realizable owing to the film’s early success. According to the Permanent Secretary, “Between March 2022 and March 2023, tourism income has increased to Tsh5.8 trillion from 3.3tri/- recorded a year before the launch of the documentary.”
“The private and public sector’s investment has also increased of which a total of eight contracts worth Tsh 11trillion were signed in the United States shortly after the launch of the Royal Tour film in 2022,” Dr Abbas said.
Tanzania is the second African country to release a Royal Tour film. Rwanda is the first to produce a Royal Tour film. O the nine Royal Tour films ever produced including those from other parts of the world, the Tanzanian film has the highest viewers/ acceptance rate of 81 per cent, it is estimated that approximately two people in each facility in the United States big cities have watched it.
During the one-year after Royal Tour firm, the number of international flights coming to Tanzania has also increased whereby in Kilimanjaro International Airport (KIA) flights have increased from 6,115 flights in 2021 to 7,850 flights in 2022, equivalent to an increase of 28 per cent.
Meanwhile, Qatar Airlines has had nine flights but now they have 12 flights, KLM had five flights and now they have six, but we also have new airline firms such as Euro Wing Discovery airline that started coming to the country directly from Frankfurt Germany.
Tanzania and the best tourism destinations
Tanzania is one of the best tourist destinations in the world where visitors can enjoy a varied range of recreational activities ranging from mountain climbing, wildlife safari, cultural exploration, snorkelling, kayaking, and chilling on idyllic sandy beaches of the Indian Ocean.
Among the top destinations featured in the Royal Tour include the great Serengeti, Mount Kilimanjaro, the Ngorongoro Conservation Area, Lake Manyara, Mkomazi National Park, the cleanest beaches of the Indian Ocean as well as stunning destinations like Dar es Salaam and Arusha, the safari capital in Tanzania.
The Royal Tour showcases a handful of thrilling destinations where visitors can plan a trip. It summarizes the Mother Nature of Tanzania in one-hour and if you wish to enjoy this splendid country, consider planning a visit.
In the film, you view some real movements made by wildlife and ethnicities. You will see the Ngorongoro Crater, the world’s largest intact caldera and the Serengeti National Park, the spectacular destination for a wildlife adventure.
A great attribute for all tourists planning to visit Tanzania is that it recently removed travel restrictions for tourists who choose to spend their precious holiday time in the untouched Mother Nature.
