https://www.eturbonews.com/572...TJfxFW7XwjdhQ-KQz6Wk

Enjoy a normal holiday or vacation in Tanzania is now a presidential message and the message the Tanzania Tourism Board made their policy. Warnings and information about COVID-19 vanished from the official travel and tourism portal for Tanzania.

Is Tanzania ready to welcome tourists from all over the world with open arms, or is this an act of deadly desperation to avoid a collapse of the Tanzania economy?

This action triggered Cuthbert Ncube, chairman of the African Tourism Board to call Africa to be careful, raising his concern it will take weeks after tourism starts to understand or feel the impact or return of COVID-19.

eTN Correspondence Apolinary Tairo had sent this report from Tanzania:

Recording a sharp decrease of coronavirus spread in Tanzania, President John Magufuli had said on Sunday that he was looking to encourage foreign tourists, business visitors to fly to Tanzania for normal holidays and business.



The Tanzanian president said that Covid-19 infections in the country has gone down tremendously, and was looking to welcome tourists to visit Tanzania unconditionally. “I have directed the Ministry of Tourism to attract airline companies to fly their tourist and passenger scheduled planes to Tanzania with immediate effect”, Magufuli said.

He said that no foreign visitor will be subjected to 14 days quarantine when landing in Tanzania, but, full protective measures against Covid-19 spread will be observed by tourists scheduled to visit this country.

Covid-19 protective measures now in place in Tanzania are the wearing of a mask, washing hands with flowing water and soap, hand sanitizing and distancing by one meter of a bit more in gatherings, and in public passenger vehicles.



The Tanzanian president said during a Sunday Service at the Lutheran Church of Tanzania that that a number of airlines had made full bookings until August for tourists waiting to travel to Tanzania holidays and wildlife safaris, adding that he had instructed his Ministers to allow the flights to fly into this country.

He further said that foreign visitors landing into Tanzania will not be placed under mandatory quarantine upon arrival but will only undergo temperature tests then be cleared to tour this African safari destination.

During the church service, Magufuli vowed not to place Tanzania on lockdown in the wake of the coronavirus, saying such a move would be disastrous to the economy and the people.

President Magufuli’s stand was made clear after Tanzania’s ministry of Tourism released shocking data on negative effects of Covid-19 on the industry.



Minister for Natural Resources and Tourism minister Hamisi Kigwangalla, said last week that the number of people who will lose jobs from Covid-19 effects represents 76 percent of the total direct employment in tourism.

The number of tourists anticipated to visit Tanzania during that Covid-19 period will decline from the previous 1.9 million tourists recorded by end of last year to 437,000 which is a 76 percent drop this year, said the minister.

Tourism in Tanzania is made up of about 623,000 people employed in services provision at the moment and according to the minister, the Covid-19 could contract it down to 146,000 only, while the sector’s earnings could shrink from US$2.6 to US $598 million by end of this year.

The minister also noted that a rapid assessment on Covid-19 carried in April showed that Tanzania started recording the tourism loss in March. By March 25, some 13 airlines had stopped flying to Tanzania, diminishing hopes of tourists’ arrivals.

The drop in the earnings will hugely affect some conservation institutions under the Ministry of Natural Resources and Tourism,” he told the House in the capital Dodoma when he tabled his ministry’s budget proposals for the 2020/2021 financial year.

He added that as a result of the COVID-19 crisis, direct employment in the tourism sector will go down from 623,000 jobs to 146,000 jobs.


safari in Tanzania

Kigwangalla said he was working closely with various stakeholders in the tourism sector to put in place strategies aimed at saving the sector from further deterioration.

Tanzania is one of Africa’s leading tourism markets, with exotic landscapes of the Serengeti plains and Ngorongoro crater has seen the world of tourism standstill as the entire globe locks down travelers amid curbing Covid-19 spread.

Data from the African Union’s Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, Tanzania has had 509 recorded coronavirus cases and 21 deaths, but president Magufuli said that most of the suspected Covid-19 patients have fully recovered with just a few remaining in hospitals with full hopes to recover.

With a population of about 55 million, Tanzania has left its borders open to its eight neighboring regional states, where most of the exports, imports, and other commodities pass through the Port of Dar es Salaam on the Indian Ocean.

Now...…. how to get there and back and not be quarantined upon return.

The following airlines and their respective schedules which will operate flights to Tanzania:

- Emirates starting 25/05
- KLM starting 01/06
- Qatar Air starting 27/05
- Fly Dubai starting 02/06
- Etihad starting 29/05

Ethiopian, British & Egyptair 0n 15/06

On the 26th, the day after Idd, Tanzania will be back to business as usual.

The implications will be quarantined on return and do people want to be on a crowded airplane and multiple airports?

A second surge may see the country in lockdown again.

Tricky but I will subject my hunters to any risk.

Countries with fragile health systems and a recent history of conflict like Somalia and South Sudan remain a worry for health officials as cases rise. And in Tanzania, where the president claims the virus has been defeated by prayer, the government hasn't updated its case numbers in three weeks.

Insanity fueled by desparation.

Looks like some folks are in for a surprise.


https://onemileatatime.com/tanzania-tourism/

Tanzania Opens To (Non-Gay) Tourists Without Conditions*
MAY 21, 2020 BY BEN (LUCKY) 17
TRAVEL

There are huge restrictions on international travel at the moment. Many countries have closed their borders altogether, other countries are restricting visitors from some countries, others are requiring a mandatory quarantine, etc.

And then you have Tanzania…

In this post:Tanzania opens with (basically) no restrictions
How many COVID-19 cases has Tanzania had?
Why you shouldn’t go to Tanzania
Bottom line
Tanzania opens with (basically) no restrictions
Tanzania’s President, John Magufuli, has announced plans to open to tourists effective immediately. There are no restrictions on where visitors can come from, and the only formality is that passengers will have to get their temperatures checked upon arrival in Tanzania. There will still be the typical requirements to wear masks and sometimes social distance while in the country, but that’s about it.

Previously the country imposed a two week quarantine period, but that is no longer in effect.

How many COVID-19 cases has Tanzania had?
Tanzania claims to have had only 21 deaths from COVID-19. The country claims to have had only a total of 509 confirmed cases, and also claims that there have only been 29 new cases since May 1, all of which were reported on one day.

Sounds amazing, eh? Well…

Why you shouldn’t go to Tanzania
For a bit of background, President Magufuli has also been quoted as saying that the economy is more important than the threat posed by coronavirus. And that’s probably the most reasonable thing he has said.

He has also claimed that his son recovered from COVID-19 using a lemon and ginger solution:.


“My own son, after contracting the virus, closed himself in his room, took a lemon and ginger solution before getting well and is even able to do push-ups.”

And AIDS is also a thing, so we shouldn’t really care too much about COVID-19:

“We have had a number of viral diseases, including AIDS and measles. Our economy must come first. It must not sleep. If we allow our economy to sleep, we will not receive salaries. Life must go on.”

And that’s only the tip of the iceberg:

He has been accused of covering up the true number of cases in the country
He has had testing carried out on animals and fruit to demonstrate that there are false positives; rumor has it that some of these tests came back positive, and he thinks a “dirty game” is being played by the lab that analyzes the results
He claims that international health officials are exaggerating the crisis because they’re on the “payroll of imperialists”
He has encouraged people to go to church, because praying “can vanquish the satanic virus”
Also keep in mind that Tanzania has one of the worst records when it comes to LGBT rights under the current administration, so everyone is welcome, but not gays. In recent years the country has launched an anti-gay crackdown, including performing anal exams on men to determine if they’re gay (which makes so much sense… goodness).

Oh, Magufuli is also up for re-election this year.

Bottom line
There are some countries, like Iceland, that are trying to bring back tourism as responsibly as possible. And then you have Tanzania, which is opening with no restrictions, and which isn’t reporting COVID-19 cases. The president seems to think COVID-19 is a conspiracy theory against him.

So yeah, please don’t go to Tanzania right now. For the record, I’d love to visit Tanzania eventually, as I’ve met so many nice people from there and the country looks gorgeous, but I’ll wait for there to be a new administration, as I personally prefer to travel to countries without anal exams.