Poor roads hamper access to western Tanzania's tourist attractions

The unsatisfactory state of roads along the western Tanzania's Gombe Stream National Park makes it practically impossible for a safe and cost-efficient access to the region's tourist attractions and products, an official said on Friday.

Located on the western border of Tanzania and the Congo, Gombe is one of Tanzania's smallest national parks, but rich in flora and fauna including the endangered chimpanzees.

Emmanuel Mtiti, the Jane Goodall Institute (JGI) Project Director of Gombe-Masito-Ugalla Landscape, said that lack of a reliable road hampers the development of tourism sector in the area, which lies on the shores of Lake Tanganyika, the world's second deepest lake, after Baikal in Siberia.

"The area is very rich in biodiversity. And to be specific, it's the last remaining habitat for chimpanzees in Tanzania. But, it's the least visited area in the country," Mtiti said.

He noted: "This has been contributed with poor infrastructures. Roads getting into the area are impassable in some places, to the extent that some tourists prefer to use boats in Lake Tanganyika. This adds costs to tourists who are interested in visiting."

It is estimated that Tanzania has more than 2,500 chimpanzees, though large concentration is in the Gombe ecosystem.

Apart from the successful implementation of environmental conservation initiatives, Mtiti said that the challenge remains on how tourism sector can grow so that locals who are actively involving in the conservation of chimps habitats benefit out of conservation.

Dominick Tarimo, Gombe National Park warden said despite the inaccessibility challenge, the government has been working hard to open up the western part of the country with better roads.

"We believe that if the area is improved with better roads, we'll be receiving more tourists, similar to what is happening in northern tourism circuit," the official said.

The park receives tourists, who come through Burundi, Rwanda and DR Congo through Lake Tanganyika, the official said.

Tanzania Tourist Board (TTB) has already expressed its intention of partnering with Air Tanzania Company Limited (ATCL) so that the national airline introduces a direct flight to Katavi and Kigoma regions, with more focus on tourism. If all goes to plan, the Tanzania's western sanctuaries of Katavi and Gombe national park will start receiving as more tourists as possible.

Tanzania received a total of 1,284,279 tourists last year, which is a 12 percent increase from the 1,137,182 tourists who arrived in 2015.

Arrivals increased last year despite the imposition of value added tax (VAT) on tourism services, which stakeholders had feared would lead to massive booking cancellations in Tanzania.

Statistics by the Tanzania's central bank show that the country's earnings from tourism rose by 11 percent last year to 2.23 billion U.S. dollars as a direct result of the increase in a number of tourist arrivals, up from 2.01 billion dollars in 2015. Endit