Thursday, September 14th
This week has been a busy week for all of us. Connie finished up her presentation about Kenya and Tanzania and we have finally began working on our Marketing Plan template.
We have learned about how political strife can decrease inbound visitors from coming to your country and so we expect Kenya to experience a decrease in visitors. Tanzania shares a border with Kenya and the expectation of people visiting Tanzania instead is hopefully going to increase.
Africa is at the top of the inbound visitor growth along with the middle east. Every year more and more people are packing up their suitcase and leaving their home country for vacation. A staggering 1,235,000,000 people went to a different country for vacation in 2016. Tourism accounts for 17.5% of Tanzania’s GDP. The country has stated that they will be marketing itself as more of a tourist destination.
Tanzania’s main competition for safaris are the Kenyans but since there is such a political disruption the competition should be weakened. Another thing we have learned this week is how safaris became a top bucket list item.
Back in the 18th century trade routes were used to trade between the middle east and Africa. This was the first loose format of the safari we know today.
Once the 20th century came around safaris moved on to exploring and hunting. Now though, safaris are flocked with people who come to take pictures of the animals and enjoy the wildlife in their natural state.
Next week we will be having another conversation with Ruth, the cofounder of WildTouch. Hopefully then we can get some more of our questions answered.