The sixth edition of the premier Swahili International Tourism Expo (SITE) will kick off on Friday this week for a three-day exhibition of tourist products, travel services and policy making strategies targeting the development of tourism in Tanzania, East Africa and the rest of Africa.
Set at the Mlimani City Grounds in Tanzania’s commercial capital from Friday, October 21 to Sunday, October 23, the exhibition will target mostly tourism and travel trade companies from East Africa and the rest of the continent.
The exhibition has a character of a business networking event for the tourism industry, with components of a social nature to attract local people, families and expats, organizers said.
More than 200 exhibitors and 350 international buyers from around the world are expected to participate in the event.
The exhibition also aims to promote Tanzania’s tourism to international markets and facilitate the linking of companies based in Tanzania, Eastern, and Central Africa with tourism professionals from the global tourist markets.
The exhibition will host its first-ever Investment Forum that will bring together investors from both, public and private sectors, sharing knowledge and experiences of the business and investment climate in Tanzania, along with exposing investment opportunities to potential investors from Africa and the world.
The list of participants expected to attend the exhibition includes Ministers from seven East African Community (EAC) member states, intergovernmental organizations and representatives of the private sector.
Tanzanian minister for Tourism Dr. Pindi Chana said the SITE Tourism Exhibition will deliver an unforgettable experience poised to attract a host of exhibitors and international buyers to Tanzania.
Dr. Chana said SITE had bounced back after a three-year hiatus following global COVID-19 outbreak three years ago.
“The event is aimed to promote Tanzania’s tourism to international markets and also facilitate linking of companies based in Tanzania, Eastern and Central Africa with tourism companies from other parts of the world,” she said.
SITE was launched in 2014 and had over the years registered an increasing number of exhibitors and international buyers.
The Tanzanian tourism minister further said the number of buyers had shot up to 170 from 40, while the number of international buyers had increased to 333 from the initial 24.
She described the Swahili Expo as one of the initiatives being taken by the Tanzanian government to boost the tourism sector.
“MICE (for which the Expo falls in) is one of the strategic products that will take our tourism to another level,” she said.
The Swahili International Tourism Expo is also essential for networking among the tourism industry players from within and outside Tanzania.
“Our projection remains five million tourists per year,” Natural Resources and Tourism minister Pindi Chana said.
Tanzania government had targeted to increase tourism revenues to US $6 billion by 2025 through diversification of tourist products. This will be attained after reaching a target of five million tourist arrivals during the same year.
