Tanzania eyes UK’s $102 billion outbound market value

Arusha. The Tanzania Embassy in the United Kingdom has unveiled a package of steps to help hook a slice of the UK tourists expected to travel overseas this year and spend about $102 billion.

High Commissioner Mbelwa Kairuki has vowed to double tailor-made marketing campaigns as he seeks to woo 100,000 tourists from the UK in 2024, up from 70,000 in 2023, in his latest efforts to pursue economic diplomacy.

On Monday, Ambassador Kairuki engaged members of the Tanzania Association of Tour Operators (Tato) in Arusha to brainstorm on the broad approaches for promoting the country’s tourist attractions in the UK, Tanzania’s forgotten biggest traditional travel and tourism market.

Mr Kairuki said the plans include promoting Tanzania in the UK and Ireland through strategic roadshows and enhancing Tanzania’s participation in the upcoming World Tourism Market (WTN) slated for London to increase the number of tourists from the UK.

“We’ve got a special tourism desk now and we’ve hired a seasoned destination marketing expert with particular experience in the UK to help us in the marketing blitz, as part of the broad strategy for winning back the tourism market,” Ambassador Kairuki told Tato members.

The envoy said the expert has been assigned to build confidence in consumers, raise awareness of Tanzania’s western and southern tourism circuits among UK consumers, address price perception and train UK travel agents.

The UK is the second-largest outbound tourism market in Europe, and British tourists made more than 93 million outbound trips in 2019.

Since the end of the pandemic, demand for travel has been very high. In 2022, British nationals took 71 million trips, 76 percent of the 2019 level.

It is most likely that outbound tourism from the UK will recover in 2024 or later, depending on the state of the economy and the spending power of British tourists.

An optimistic projection from 2022 suggested that outbound tourism would reach 86.9 million trips by 2024.

The global UK outbound travel market is projected to reach $175.2 billion by 2032, up from $76.7 billion in 2022, developing at a considerable CAGR of 8.60 percent during the forecast period.

According to the World Travel and Tourism Council, the outbound tourism expenditure of UK travellers crossed $70 billion and is projected to reach $102 billion by the end of 2024.

Sirili Akko, the CEO of Tato, praised Mr Kairuki’s efforts for his proactive and innovative approach to promoting Tanzania's tourism industry in the UK market.

Mr Akko said that the envoy has shown great leadership and vision in engaging with the key stakeholders and media in the UK, as well as hiring a professional destination-marketing expert to support the marketing campaigns.

He also applauded him for his plans to enhance the participation of Tanzanian players in the upcoming World Tourism Market (WTM) in London, which is a strategic opportunity to showcase Tanzania's diverse and unique attractions to UK travellers.

Mr Akko said that Tato, as the representative body of the tour operators in Tanzania, is fully committed to working in partnership with Ambassador Kairuki and his office to create synergy and leverage the potential of the UK market, which is one of the largest and most lucrative outbound travel markets in the world.

He expressed his confidence that, with the combined efforts of the embassy and Tato, Tanzania will be able to attract more UK tourists and increase its share of the global tourism revenue.

Mr Akko thanked Ambassador Kairuki for his dedication and passion for the tourism industry, which is a vital industry for the economic and social development of Tanzania.

He said that the High Commissioner is a true ambassador of Tanzania and a role model for other diplomats to emulate.

Tato CEO added: “We are confident in the envoy’s ability to broaden the reach of our recovery strategy and help position Tanzania as a safe top-of-mind destination among UK travellers as the world begins to travel again.”

The Tanzania Association of Tour Operators is a 41-year-old lobbying and advocacy agency for the multi-billion-dollar industry, with 300 plus members across Tanzania.

Tato represents a collective voice for private tour operators towards the common goal of improving the business climate in Tanzania.

It also provides unparalleled networking opportunities for its members, allowing individual tour operators or companies to connect with their peers, mentors, other industry captains and policymakers.

Tanzania is home to the number one safari destination globally, housing four of the most coveted adventure sub-destinations on earth, namely the Serengeti, Mount Kilimanjaro, Zanzibar and the Ngorongoro Crater.