Mangachi: Tanzanian investor bringing Swiss excellence to Tanzania tourism

What you need to know:

The tourism sector has a lot of potential for growth with 3.5 billion dollars in 2024, when measured against another African nation like Egypt, which earned a record of 14.1 billion dollars.

Jafari had to grow up fighting the stereotype about Africa, boldly identifying himself as a Tanzanian in a time when no one around him even knew where Tanzania was, “I had to tell them where Tanzania is, all the people around me knew was Nigeria or west Africa, they also knew Kenya” he said. That early experience with peers in school and his neighbourhood, made him more motivated to tell people more about Tanzania, the fact that most people thought that Mountain Kilimanjaro was not even in Tanzania, drove him to correct that narrative, he had to constantly tell them that the highest mountain in Africa is indeed in Tanzania and not otherwise. In his bid to market Tanzania, he was fortunate enough to take part in a funfair known as ‘’Le ZUTU land” a major event in the city of Geneva, a family-friendly event frequented by locals and tourists.

At the event it dawned on him the amount of work he had to do to explain to people about Tanzania, their knowledge was very limited if not non-existent, to some it was like their first time hearing about Tanzania. He took a lot of time educating people about the country starting with the geographical location and the tourism attractions. “That’s the reality that I went through, telling them about Zanzibar, Kilimanjaro, and what Tanzania has to offer,” he explained. Mangachi came up with an ingenious plan to attract people to his booth, he had a picture of a Maasai holding Swiss chocolate, their popular brand of chocolate while having a Swiss knife, it arose the curiosity of the fairgoers, who got closer and asked him about the Maasai, most thinking the Maasai are only found in Kenya, he seized that chance to explain to them about Maasai residing in Zanzibar and Tanzania northern circuit, and invited them to visit the country. “I challenged their view, going against the grain,” he added.

He went to the Lugano fair in Southern Switzerland, a popular hospitality exhibition that attracts international audiences and participants, to observe how it operates and he was an African corner and met Tanzanians who were there to market our country, so the interest to travel to Tanzania is there, all that is needed is constant marketing of what is unique in our tourism. Going against the conventional ways to market the country, Mangachi chose music as an outlet to introduce young Swiss to Tanzania, he collaborated with a Swiss musician and filmed a music video in Tanzania. “There is so much to do, I have a ton of artists who want to shoot in Tanzania and show the parts of Tanzania,” he said. He has fresh ideas on how tourism can be marketed in Switzerland, all he wishes is to get more cooperation from Tanzanian authorities.

Mangachi: Tanzanian investor bringing Swiss excellence to Tanzania tourism

What you need to know:

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