DAR ES SALAAM, Tanzania (eTN) – Paradise Hotel, Tanzania’s leading posh resort on the Indian Ocean beach, has been gutted by fire Monday, bringing shock to the East African tourist sector that has signaled a pinch of global financial meltdown.
The Paradise Holiday Resort is located on the magnificent and unspoiled white sandy beaches of the ancient historical town of Bagamoyo, 60 kilometers north of the Tanzania capital of Dar es Salaam. The property went ablaze during mid-morning hours and totally gutted down by the horrible inferno whose cause is said to be an electrical fault.
Other than the Paradise Holiday Resort, a neighboring posh resort, the Oceanic Bay Hotel and Resort, also caught fire that was spread from the former hotel, and reports said efforts to put down the gazing inferno were futile.
Paradise Holiday Resort operates with 95 guest rooms, which include four executive suites, 48 deluxe rooms and 43 standard rooms. Oceanic Bay Hotel and Resort has been operating with 98 well-furnished luxurious executive and diplomatic suites.
The two neighboring beach resorts were the only international standard tourist accommodation facilities located in Bagamoyo, the historical beach town on the Tanzania Indian Ocean beaches.
Bagamoyo town was established over 1,000 years ago by early Arab travelers to the Eastern African coast and later became the slave trade transit port. Famous European missionaries and explorers to East Africa, including Dr. David Livingstone, kicked-off their trek to African bush at Bagamoyo while the first Arabian settlers as well the history of the German colonial administration were documented at Bagamoyo.
Police and other security authorities were still assessing the losses and the extent of damages, but no one was injured from the inferno and reports said all foreign tourists and beach holidaymakers booked at the two resorts were safe.
