(Posted 05th June 2023)
By Charlotte Beauvoisin, Publisher of ‘Diary of a Muzungu’
At KiliFair’s opening event, one speaker reported that post-pandemic visitor numbers from UK, France
and Australia are rising and that new markets, such as central and eastern Europe, are growing;
Zanzibar is the number one sub-Saharan destination for Poles, for example. Other news from the Indian
Ocean is that Pemba Island’s tourism industry is expecting an influx of investors to take advantage of the
soon to be opened international airport.
John Corse of Serengeti Balloon Safaris has recently joined the board of KPAP (Kilimanjaro Porters
Assistance Project) a not-for-profit organisation that represents 10,000 porters. Melissa Foley of All
About Africa Sustainable Marketing Consulting explained that porters should be on a minimum daily
wage of $10 but that currently half of the porters on Mount Kilimanjaro are paid less than that. KPAP is
pushing for better standards for all Kili porters.
The ATTA African Travel and Tourism Association event at the Elewana Coffee Lodge in Arusha was well
attended. Nigel Vere reminded the crowd that Jon Danks is the organisation’s new CEO. Jon can be
contacted via email jon@atta.travel
KiliFair was a chance to connect with friends old and new, including Nev and Mansoor Jiwani, owners of
Go Places Digital, who have been sponsoring KiliFair for 15 years.
One of Diary of a Muzungu’s highlights of KiliFair was the group of Masai who danced, sang and
entertained the crowd throughout the three-day event. It was a pleasure to interact with them and learn
all about The Original Maasai Lodge, 100% of whose profits go directly to their community. It’s always
interesting to interact with people from different tribes – but far more rewarding when you learn that they are directly benefiting from tourism. A related – and equally inspiring – project is Africa Amini “Tanzania’s first school to blend secondary education with vocational tourism training.” I learned of their project thanks to the beautifully groomed schoolchildren who toured KiliFair inviting us to buy local lunch at the Africa Amini stand.
Other educational providers included Mweka College of African Wildlife Management.
As for new products, from July 2023 the Zanzibar Submarine will be available for the whole family to
“enjoy a splash-free underwater experience in an air-conditioned 12 seat cabin with 360° green
panorama view.” Find out more at www.Zanzibar-submarine.com starting from $69 per person.
In terms of air transport, Ugandan delegates reported that the Uganda Airlines flight from Entebbe is the most reliable option to KiliFair. Others reported that RwandAir frequently disappoints on this route, with connections via Precision Air also suffering frequent delays and inconsistent customer service levels.
Stephan Masaba represented Uganda Wildlife Authority at KiliFair 2023. However, notable by their
absence were Kenya Tourism Board and Uganda Tourism Board. Is Magical Kenya Tourism Expo going
ahead in October this year? Verbal reports are that it will not take place in 2023.
Overall, KiliFair was a well-run and popular event. Hiccups on day one (notably a local power outage)
caused some disruptions but generally, participants were pleased with the event. The organisers had put
substantial effort into creating “Instagrammable” photo opportunities across the event site but
unfortunately, the Wi-Fi signal simply wasn’t reliable enough to really maximise those opportunities.
Clarity on Tanzania’s multiple tourism brand hashtags would also improve efforts to promote the
destination on social media.
Upcoming tourism fairs in Tanzania include:
The Swahili International Tourism Expo 6-8th October
The Z Summit www.z-summit.co.tz February 21-22 2024 jointly organised by KilFair and ZATI the
Zanzibar Association of Tourism Investors
Diary of a Muzungu looks forward to sharing more digital marketing tips at similar events across East
Africa and creating more promotional destination content for the East Africa Travel Podcast, launching
soon.
