As far as potential is concerned, Tanzania is both a regional and continental tourism giant.
It is not only blessed with abundant attractions such as scenery, wildlife and sandy, sun-kissed beaches, but is also home to unique natural features, including the world-famous Ngorongoro Crater and Mt Kilimanjaro.
However, we fare badly in terms of the actual number of tourists, who visit the country every year and the income generated from the business of holidaymaking and travel.
Our hospitality industry is, in fact, terribly small compared to those of even tiny island countries such as the Seychelles and Mauritius.
There are many reasons why tourism here continues to perform dismally by international travel trade standards. One most glaring one is the lack of strategic marketing and the limited diversity of destinations.
Sadly, therefore, for a country endowed with some of the greatest attractions on earth, including the Olduvai Gorge made famous by the prehistoric findings of the Leakeys, Tanzania does not attract many high-paying visitors, as our neighbours, Kenya, and post-apartheid South Africa.
We seem content to have the ordinary tourists one comes across lounging about on the beach and in game parks but miss out on a class, which requires special care and treatment commensurate with its exclusive lifestyle.
It may be a small group, but it's of big commercial relevance, especially when it comes to the generation of tourism earnings. The publicity accompanying these high-profile visitors is in itself enough promotion of a destination.
To tap into this lucrative market niche that is worth billions of dollars, we must create the requisite environment to attract the big-spending visitors.
Top class accommodation is one factor, and so are exclusive areas for use by the moneyed holidaymakers.
The government might have had this class of visitors in mind when it allowed the creation of exclusive attractions within our national parks.
Unlike officials of Serengeti National Park, who say this is bound to have adverse effects on the tourism sector, we read the situation a bit differently.
The long overdue exclusive zones are a marketing strategy and an effective commercial tool that has absolutely nothing to do with denying either local tourists or ordinary foreign visitors a chance to savour the many attractions our country is endowed with.
