How ‘unpleasant habits’ dent tourists experience in Tanzania

Treading lightly on this sensitive matter that has always aroused differing views depending on who you ask, but like any other nation, Tanzania receives thousands of visitors from all the corners of the world.

With that being said, a Caucasian automatically stands out in some parts of the country and is mostly likely to be regarded as a tourist or a visitor.

A growing concern has been circulating on social media where some of them have shared unfortunate incidents that have happened to them while in the country.

A popular Facebook group ‘Team Tanzania,’ which has thousands of members from all walks of life, had a post from a disgruntled ‘Mzungu’ who anonymously shared his unpleasant experience while going out to different places in Dar es Salaam and has repeatedly been asked for ‘msaada’ a handout from strangers, barmaids even restaurant waiters.

“At one time the waiter served me a beer and asked if I could buy one for him too” he complained. The uncomfortable situation happened so many times that he started questioning if his pigmentation had anything to do with the constant pestering whenever he was out enjoying his time.

Tanzanians are universally known for their hospitality and kindness, one of the qualities that many tourists can attest to. A Tanzanian will give you the shirt on his back and help a stranger in need like he would help his family member.

But the elephant in the room is, why are these unfortunate occurrences happening to tourists and what can we, as a country, do about it? Pretending they don’t happen will be a disservice to the tourism sector that solely depends on visitors coming to our country and having the best time of their lives. Social media is a powerful tool that can't be ignored in the slightest and if there is smoke then we should at least investigate and be ready to put out the fire if any.

The contrasting views have been raised by some, ‘Ken’ (not his real name) is a German-Tanzanian of mixed heritage, he has lived in Europe and Tanzania alike, he mentioned that all visitors have orientation before visiting a country and they would be taught how to easily interact with locals and how to avoid unpleasant situations like the one Ben went through. At the bottom line the author of the post is a condescending person towards our community members and our norms and habits,” he pointed out. “The staff are being paid low salaries for providing high-quality services. It would be a natural order to try and get an extra coin from those aliens,” he added. Ken’s asserting the low wages in the hospitality industry could have played a role, would mean that it is a crucial issue that has to be prioritized if we aspire to make our tourism industry top-tier as we ambitiously desire to attract 5 million tourists by this year.

Ronald (not his real name) recounted his run-in with the Mzungu dilemma, “ It is a daily occurrence, from taxis and bajaj charging more to the beggars at the traffic lights who upon seeing a mzungu in a car will neglect any other vehicle and only stand by the car window with the mzungu. I have always said that for tourists this will be very off-putting and intimidating,” he lamented.

Another tourist, Carlos, begs to differ, “I'm also a mzungu and have lived here for almost 4 years now. At the beginning this happened to me as well (not constantly), I was perceived as a tourist and went to tourist spots, pretty much living in a bubble,” he said. But all that changed when he took time to learn some Kiswahili and started blending with the locals, he now appreciates that he sees the ‘wauza karanga’ peanut sellers at the bars he frequents and he knows how to respectfully communicate with them, even when he doesn't want to buy from them. He insists it's not that they target Mzungus only, but anyone appearing wealthy.

The vast amount of dollars trickling into our country courtesy of the boom in the tourism sector, is largely from the earnings that a would-be tourist saves for months and even years, just to afford a few weeks stay in the scenic paradise parts of Tanzania.

The natural beauty that has been bestowed by the higher powers has always fascinated people from across the world, and that’s what they pay to be a part of it albeit just a few days before returning to their respective countries and carrying on their daily lives.

Vacation is literally meant to be a realizer of stress, the time to detox from the hustle and bustle of the Western world, away from constant emails and calls from one’s boss, trying to get work done before the deadline hits, and working to make sure everything runs smoothly that sometimes includes dealing with children, teens and toddlers are a handful, the last thing anyone escaping their busy world to dip their toes in the white sandy beach of Tanzania expects is unruly behavior that strangers in the hosts country.

‘Ben’ has been in Tanzania for quite a while and has experienced his fair share of bothersome tendencies, even from random people, would ask for ‘msaada’ he noticed no other person of a different race is particularly asked, The kicker is, Ben is traveling on a budget, every coin he has is frugally spent, but his politeness has caused him to lose a huge sum that he could no longer contain his displeasure, he had to lament in a Facebook group.

Now that's the tricky part, Facebook is worldwide, God forbids his post to go viral, and a country would lose a couple of million dollars without even noticing. Tourists in this day and age are easily spooked, as the tourism sector is recovering, all countries, that is including our neighbours are vehemently marketing their country as the better option and even cheaper, so changing an air ticket to Nairobi and cancelling is as easy as moving thumbs on a phone screen. As a country, we should hold dear to what makes Tanzania unforgettable, its people. Tanzanians are known for ‘ukarimu’ the ‘hospitality’ of our winning personality and it's no time to let a few bad apples taint the image the Tanzania tourism stakeholders have worked so hard to promote.The hospitality industry workers are at the front line of the tourism industry, no matter how many documentaries and social media posts with catchy hashtags we produce to market our unforgettable tourism, what visitors will experience once they are here is the image of the country they will portray to the world, and that image should not be of Tanzanians begging for beer.

Yes, better pay in the hospitality industry should be discussed and the government should find lasting solutions that will make the industry attractive to young Tanzanians to deem it worthy pursuing and for hotels and restaurants to find it lucrative enough to hire new employees, our young people. But nothing justifies unruly acts that cause displeasure to visitors trying to enjoy their time in the country.