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Trade Fairs should benefit those who produce the productBy Elisha Mayallah The just ended Karibu Tanzania Travel and Trade Fair has grown and developed very rapidly, and is undoubtedly one of the important events in Tanzania, said Hon. Zakia Hamdani Meghji at the official opening in Arusha.
The opening was held at The Arusha Hotel and sponsored by Royal Palm Hotel, Stanbic Bank and Air Tanzania Company limited. The Royal Palm was the only sponsor in the same event last year, whereas Stanbic Bank and Air Tanzania have joined together to recognize the event as Tanzania’s most highlighted event in the tourism sector. Tourism growth has become Tanzania’s important sector contributing nearly 16% GDP and close to 25% of total export earnings. According to Minister Meghji, tourist arrivals are projected to reach one million tourists by the year 2010. Besides, the industry boasts of being able to support over 157,000 jobs in 2002, up from 96,000 jobs in 1995. She, however, highlighted that the number of employees, even when the industry is still young, has been increasing steadily. In the same context, Mr. Peter Mwenguo, The Managing Director of Tanzania Tourist Board [TTB] noted the progress made by the organizers of the Karibu Fair. However, he suggested a wider participation of different organizations in the event in future. Mr. Mwenguo is optimistic that the trade fair will continue being a landmark in showcasing Tanzania tourism potentials to her neighbours and the rest of the World. He proposed to the organizers to secure a new and permanent home for the event as the Kisongo grounds seemingly do not attract local residents. The Karibu grounds are located at Kisongo just past the Arusha airport, which has a limited transport service from the town centre, apart from being dusty or muddy, depending on the weather. Anybody who has ever visited the Kisongo grounds, I suppose, will have some concern to speak about. However, in the tourism sector where people, landscapes and cultures are the commodity, we cannot afford to ignore these concerns. As a more equitable form of local tourism promotion there could be some deliberate arrangements for the public to visit tourist attractions located nearer to the Arusha and Manyara regions. Such as: Arusha National Park [ANAPA], Tarangire National Park, Lake Manyara National Park and Ngorongoro Crater. The Executive Secretary of The Tourism Confederation of Tanzania, Mr. Richard Rugimbana, had this to say "The Karibu event organizers, as time and scale of the event changes, need to invite International tour operators. As we notice sometimes, the price seems less or more important than the social exchange. In the global business today business is mostly done through the Internet, where the human element has no place, added Mr. Rugimbana. 'Fair Trade' can mean many things. Like 'ecotourism' or 'sustainable tourism' it can change meaning according to who uses it and for what ends. In a climate of increasing consumer consciousness about the environment, stakeholders for marketing and public relations purposes to quench collective guilty conscience. Indeed, if fashion demands, Fair Trade could even become a commodity in itself to attract business. A more appropriate term might be 'equitable trade'. So, how can we apply this concept to tourism? Tourism is a very complex product, not just one entity like coffee or bananas. It is made up of a large number of different service components which are all interlinked, such as transport, hotels, tour operators, tour guides etc. Its purpose is pleasure. It arises from a desire of people in industrialized countries, to fulfill a dream, to escape from daily routine or to find excitement and adventure. For this product to be equitably traded in sustainable terms we may argue that the product itself and the concept of tourism as we know it might have to change: as if it was a great party where we use the host's premises to have fun and then leave them with all the cleaning up. We might have to start helping with the setting up and cleaning up ourselves. The most important aspect of Fair Trade is that it should benefit the people who produce the product and who are affected by it.
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