Insights on the Tanzanian Hotel Industry

An interview with Yehia El Mansoury

Group Director of Business development -DoubleTree By Hilton

Despite with the huge potentials and vast number of tourists’ attractions in Tanzania, tourism sector is still facing a lot of challenges and some areas are not well prioritized with the stakeholders.

However, Tourism Board has a strategy to attract over two million foreign arrivals by 2017, Jovago Tanzania did an interview with one of stakeholders in the industry for the Final Tanzania’s Hospitality Report, Mr Yehia El Mansoury, Group Director of Business development -DoubleTree By Hilton  who gave the insights on the hotel industry as follows;

JOVAGO:What are the main challenges facing the hotel industry in Tanzania?

Y.E:   Tourism has the potential to generate more revenue to the economy and further increase employment for the younger people. Tanzania has vast array of places that attract tourists, much better than other countries in east and central Africa. High taxation is one of the challenges that cause strain on the industry, as major tourism products and services are subject to VAT, which can increase the price of services.

Other major challenges facing the industry include developing a diversity of offerings, including wellness and spa treatments, water sports, and specialist guiding. There are also challenges in terms of the price of air tickets. There are also issues around hospitality management standards/training and the development of frontline staff communication skills in terms of English language development.

JOVAGO: How are you responding to the industry shift towards e-commerce in the tourism sector?

J.E: E-commerce is bring new business opportunities to the global travel and tourism Industry, it has a real impact to the society and new era of technology, We look to the institutions such as Tanzania Tourist Board to take a lead in this area and help the nation’s hospitality sector embrace the technology changes.

As a part of Hilton Worldwide we always invest in new technology and e-commerce to maintain our competitiveness. Hilton Worldwide launched digital check-in with room selection technology, now available at more than 3,700 hotels. This is now a worldwide service and operates in Tanzania.

JOVAGO: How would you rate the government’s support of the hotel industry in Tanzania?

J.E: The Tanzanian government is very much involved in the sector and well recognizes the place of tourism as a major contributor to the economy; the industry has to work with government to develop a fair taxation system to capture income for the revenue authority but also provides a commercial situation that attracts investors and lets businesses prosper.