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Programme title Business & Tourism

Cohort September 2021
Level Level 5
Module Number 3
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i
 Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................

The Nature of Tanzania ..................................................................................................

Definitions and Origins of Sustainable Tourism…............................................................

Challenges to Implement Sustainability in Tourism..........................................................

Impact of Tourism............................................................................................................

Conclusion.......................................................................................................................

References….…………………………………………………………………………….....9

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Introduction
This case study aims to analyse the sustainable tourism environment and
ecotourism landscape in Tanzania. The key objectives are to: 1) Provide an overview
of Tanzania's unique biodiversity, wildlife habitats, and key attractions that draw
visitors; 2) Discuss crises and challenges impacting sustainable tourism growth
including the COVID-19 pandemic; 3) Understand perspectives of diverse
stakeholders including local communities, government, and tour operators; and 4)
Explore pathways and criteria to build back a more sustainable, responsible and
resilient tourism sector post-pandemic.

Tanzania as a tourist destination is renowned for its extensive wilderness areas,

iconic wildlife-protected areas, and magnificent landscapes ranging from Mt.
Kilimanjaro to the beaches of Zanzibar. Mainland national parks such as Serengeti
and Ngorongoro host the annual Great Migration attracting visitors globally.
Tanzania’s biodiversity includes over 100 species of mammals and more than 1000
species of birds. These core assets coupled with Tanzania's natural and cultural
heritage make it an attractive ecotourism destination. However, the sustainability of
the sector has been impacted by various health, climate, and economic shocks
leading to declines in international arrivals over recent years. Most recently, the
COVID-19 pandemic brought tourism to a standstill - jeopardizing conservation
efforts, community livelihoods, and operator viability that all rely on sustainable
tourism growth.

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The Nature of Tanzania
A return flight from London Heathrow to Kilimanjaro International Airport would take
just over 10 hours, with an average cost of £500-£700 (Henama,2018). After landing,
the closest major city and ecotourism hub is Arusha, only an hour's drive from the
airport. For first-time visitors, booking through reputable tour agencies can help
customize sustainable itineraries showcasing Tanzania’s iconic attractions.

Renowned national parks and conservation areas make up a large part of Tanzania’s
appeal. Serengeti National Park, a vast ecosystem in northern Tanzania, hosts one
of Earth’s last remaining wildlife spectacles - the annual wildebeest migration. Over
1.5 million wildebeest and 250,000 zebras move in a circular pattern searching for
water and grazing land (Van Wee, G.P. & Banister, 2016). Ngorongoro Conservation
Area, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, encompasses varied landscapes from
grasslands to forests, sheltering a rich diversity of wildlife species including the ‘Big
Five’ - elephants, buffalos, leopards, rhinos, and lions. Offshore, the Zanzibar
Archipelago combines tropical island beaches with historic Stone Town, drawing
beachgoers and cultural tourists alike (Edgell, 2023). Throughout Tanzania’s
protected areas and communities, visitors can opt for ecotourism activities like
wildlife safaris, trekking Kilimanjaro’s peaks, interacting with local tribe members,
and volunteering in sustainable community initiatives (Ånstand, 2016). Conserving
these ecosystems while enabling local livelihood opportunities remains an essential
pillar for responsible tourism growth.

Definitions and Origins of Sustainable Tourism

Sustainability refers to the responsible use and protection of natural, social, and
economic resources to meet current needs without compromising the ability of future
generations to meet their own needs (Bramwell & Lane, 2020). Sustainable tourism
aims to balance these pillars and manage all impacts from tourism that could affect a
destination’s environmental, social, and economic integrity over the long term.

Ecotourism is a subset of sustainable tourism focused specifically on supporting

conservation efforts, building environmental awareness, and enabling local
community livelihoods (WCED,2017). Tanzania’s tourism strategy emphasizes
ecotourism development that protects the country’s precious ecosystems and
benefits rural populations through direct income opportunities guiding, operating
tours, producing handicrafts as souvenirs, or gaining revenue from conservation and
park fees that support local infrastructure development.

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Compared to traditional mass tourism, sustainable tourism requires active
management of the number and activities of visitors to minimize damage to sensitive
areas while still allowing tourist access, enjoyment, and economic inputs (Choi &
Sirakaya, 2016). For example, Tanzania’s Ngorongoro Conservation Area Authority
caps the number of vehicles permitted within the Ngorongoro Crater at any one time
to reduce wildlife disturbances and soil erosion while still permitting visitor access.
Contrast this to heavily trafficked beach resorts in Spain or Thailand with unregulated
tourist volumes straining infrastructure capacity and the natural landscape. Applying
the triple bottom line of sustainability means measuring tourism’s net impact across
environmental health, sociocultural dynamics, and economic flows (Dillard,2019).
Environmentally, tourism growth must avoid degrading Tanzania’s ecosystems, most
urgently addressing climate change pressures. Sociocultural, tourism activities
should respect local cultures and equitable access to opportunities. Economically,
the income generated should support conservation management and community
development rather than external corporate interests. Ongoing planning, monitoring,
and partnerships are essential to ensure Tanzania’s tourism model aligns with
sustainability across all three dimensions.

Achieving sustainable tourism growth requires proactive planning and policy to

balance trade-offs between conservation, community development, and economic
returns. Tanzania’s government recognizes tourism as a leading socio-economic
sector and established the National Sustainable Tourism Master Plan 2021-2025
outlining strategies for responsible tourism growth (Henama,2018). Priority actions
focus on stimulating domestic travel, upskilling hospitality workforce capabilities,
enhancing local participation across tourism value chains, and implementing
ecotourism best practices in product development. Executing this ambitious strategy
will demand coordination between government entities, community partners,
conservation organizations, and private-sector tourist operators. Only through
purposeful collaboration can tourism in Tanzania truly achieve sustainability across
the triple bottom line - catalysing prosperity for wildlife, nature areas, and local
people over the long term.

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Challenges to Implement Sustainability in Tourism
Common obstacles impeding sustainable tourism adoption include conflicting
interests amongst stakeholders, lack of funding and human capital, and immediate
pressures compromising long-term focus (Ceron & Dubois, 2023). Tanzania
exemplifies all these challenges. Despite the desire for sustainable tourism,
residents need income and thus prize tourist dollars while operators maximize short-
term profits given significant start-up investments in remote, higher-risk
environments. Government capacity for oversight is limited by budget and trained
personnel, especially in managing ecosystems spanning diverse locations
(Duruigbo, 2018). Short political cycles also invent reactionary versus proactive
planning around conservation areas and communities.

However, solutions exist to overcome these barriers through partnerships, financing

mechanisms, and education programs raising awareness of sustainable value
chains. Non-profits can collaborate across public, private, and community groups to
align interests, resources, and expertise (Choi & Sirakaya, 2016). Conservation trust
funds also provide consistent financing to support biodiversity health and local
training initiatives—critical given climate change impacts further threatening habitats
and rural livelihoods (Engström & Leffler, 2022). Meanwhile, sustainable tourism
principles must be emphasized in hospitality curriculums and vocational centres
supplying talent to this competitive industry seeking quality service delivery matching
visitor expectations for responsible tourism. These are some of the major challenges
to implementing sustainable tourism.

Impact of Tourism
Sustainable tourism development aims for net positive economic, sociocultural, and
environmental gains for local communities and Tanzania more broadly. However,
tourism increases also risk negative disruptions from increased population
pressures, infrastructure expansion, and ecosystem disturbances.

On the economic front, tourism contributed over 2.7 billion dollars, or nearly 18% of
Tanzania’s GDP in 2019 (Briggs & Roberts, 2020). The sector employs 9% of the
workforce both directly in hotels, restaurants, and parks and indirectly across
agriculture, food services, manufacturing, and more (Ånstand, 2016). Rural
community members earn supplemental income as porters, cultural attraction
performers, artisans, or conservation area employees—critical livelihood
diversification from traditional fishing and farming activities facing increasing climate-

4
related disruptions. Women in particular access entrepreneurship opportunities they
historically lacked promoting greater gender equity (Briggs & Roberts, 2020). From a
broad development perspective, tourism dollars fund infrastructure upgrades also
benefiting residents like improved roads, health centres, telecommunications,
banking, and other public services concentrated around key sites like Arusha,
Kilimanjaro, and Zanzibar gateway areas. However, critics argue revenue leakages
diminish net gains if foreign-owned resorts import labour, goods, and profits rather
than stimulative local economic linkages and circulation (Ceron & Dubois, 2023).
Mass budget tourism particularly risks degrading cultural heritage if interpreted
superficially as tourist entertainment rather than respectfully upholding traditions.
Unmanaged growth could also drive greater income inequality if limited portions of
the population or country capture returns.

Figure 1: Number of tourists in Tanzania

Source: (Statista et al.,2022)

Environmentally, well-regulated tourism aligns with preservation given most

attractions stem from Tanzania’s natural landscapes and diverse wildlife. Visitor and
activity fees help finance anti-poaching patrols protecting threatened species like
elephants and rhinos from illegal wildlife trafficking (Dillard et al. 2019). Designated
trails, boardwalks, and controlled vehicles mitigate tourist physical footsteps

5
minimizing soil erosion and vegetation trampling. However, growth in the human
population will unavoidably have an impact on habitats, causing irregularities in
species migration routes as well as disturbances to feeding and mating habits
(Spenceley & Meyer,2022). Other dangers to the land and marine habitats include
contamination resulting from poor waste management. Unchecked building of roads,
hotels, and other infrastructure damages or eliminates natural migration corridors
and increases the chance of invasive plant introduction disrupting endemic
ecosystems (Cronin et al., 2018). The necessity of proactive policies governing
planning procedures, land use rights, impact assessments, and monitoring systems
across involved government agencies and conservation authorities is driven by the
complex tensions between risks and rewards inherent in the growth of tourism
(Engström & Leffler, 2022). Tanzania's Tourism Act and National Sustainable Tourism
Master Plan set the foundation for bringing stakeholders together around a common
goal of striking a balance between preservation and exploitation. To realise the
potential of sustainable tourism as a weapon for poverty alleviation and biodiversity
protection that benefits Tanzania's natural environment, its residents, and tourists
alike, there must be an ongoing commitment to putting principles into practice and
developing local governance capacity.

Figure 2: GDP Growth Forecast of Tanzania

Source: (World Bank et al.,2022)

An essential component of sustainability is the fair allocation of risks, obligations,

and rewards among various stakeholder groups. However, rather than fostering
widespread engagement, power dynamics and access to decision-making processes

6
frequently favour outside tour operators or urban invested interests, concentrating
authority (Mowforth & Munt,2017). This stokes animosity and turns cooperative
participants in conservation initiatives into adversaries opposing laws that are
imposed without due process or that are out of step with the realities of the local
context—unfavourable circumstances for the achievement of sustainable goals
(Dillard et al., 2019). Rural populations that are close to protected areas bear an
unfair share of the responsibility for maintaining delicate ecosystems through land
restrictions or grazing rights, yet they may not receive fair compensation or have a
say in the regulations that regulate everyday operations.

More than 300 villages in Tanzania that are either inside or close to conservation
areas rely mostly, if not entirely, on natural resources for their cultural customs and
subsistence needs. Established in 2020, the Tanzania Natural Resource Forum
brings together government agencies, community associations, and environmental
non-governmental organizations to promote human rights and participatory land-use
planning in conservation contexts (Van Wee, G.P. & Banister, 2016). Related
capacity building, such as training, candid discussions, and fair partnership models,
empowers marginalized populations that are frequently left out of choices about risk
mitigation investments, livelihood activities, and access to important resources for
their fundamental well-being.

Tanzania offers significant prospects for heritage exchange and visitor spending
provides essential revenue streams for households, yet there must be limits to
prevent detrimental incursion. Sacred places should be preserved, and Indigenous
ways of life shouldn't be reduced to a simplified kind of performance art but rather
retained with religious respect (WCED,2017). Tour guides and hospitality employees
must receive ongoing education to recognize cultural sensitivities, reroute unwanted
visitor behaviour, and defuse other points of friction that can be productively utilized
for mutual understanding. The human factors that influence how sustainably tourism
profits elevate or dehumanize communities necessitate giving environmental
conservation similar weight.

7
Conclusion
Tanzania has amazing natural and cultural resources that draw tourists from all over
the world, but its diverse wildlife species rely on well-protected environments to stay
safe. It is very difficult yet necessary to sustainably strike a balance between the
three interconnected aims of ecological preservation, community livelihoods, and
economic development for tourism to benefit the country and prevent the
degradation of priceless cultural assets.

Tensions over the fair distribution of tourism benefits and governance authority
among stakeholders, ranging from rural communities to urban elites and government
to private sector actors, were brought to light by this investigation. Although there are
tested models for collaborative land-use planning, environmental impact
assessments before infrastructure growth, and site capacities assessing ecological
boundaries, political will and funding are lacking in their execution. In a similar vein,
rules that define morality in cultural relations must be upheld for economic objectives
to not undermine social sustainability.

Sustained support for capacity building enables destinations to independently

oversee visitor flows while preserving their social and environmental integrity. Finally,
expanding marketing tactics beyond wildlife safaris to highlight culture, agritourism,
and heritage gives broader benefits by paying families across the country is the main
secret to prosperity's beneficial knock-on effects.

8
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