Reaching Historic Heights of Tourism Arrivals in 2023: Tourists’ Feedback on the Travel and Tourism Pillars’ Quality in Tanzania

Reaching Historic Heights of Tourism Arrivals in 2023: Tourists’ Feedback on the Travel and Tourism Pillars’ Quality in Tanzania

CRN, Charles Raphael¹ and Filbert Rodrick²

¹Arusha Technical College

²Institute of Accountancy Arusha

DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.47772/IJRISS.2024.803137

 Received: 24 February 2024; Revised: 13 March 2024; Accepted: 16 March 2024; Published: 16 April 2024

ABSTRACT

Tanzania has reached historic heights in which tourism arrivals surpass 1.6 million in year ending May 2023 despite of the cumulative effects of the shocks of the war in Ukraine and the hanging over of the COVID-19 pandemic.  However, the feedback on what causes such historic heights is not yet established. One of the major factors for successful travel and tourism performance are the main pillars. Therefore, this study evaluated the feedback of the tourists on the main pillars of travel and tourism in Tanzania. Using the experiences of visiting North Tanzania, the tourists were specifically asked to determine the extent to which they are satisfied with the quality of travel and tourism pillars. They were also asked to rank their satisfaction feedback on the same travel and tourism pillars in Tanzania from their experiences of visiting North Tanzania. Eventually, the tourists were asked if the experienced quality of travel and tourism pillars can attract them or others to revisit Tanzania in the future. This study was approached quantitatively using descriptive survey design. Data were gathered from June to September, 2023 in Arusha, Kilimanjaro and Manyara using questionnaire from 277 tourists sampled using convenient sampling technique. The data were analysed using Descriptive Statistics. The findings indicate that, the tourists were dissatisfied on the quality of infrastructures; satisfied on the quality of enabling environment, policy and enabling conditions; and very satisfied on the quality of natural and cultural resources pillars. The given pillars’ quality were ranked differently by the tourists depending on their experience when visiting North Tanzania.  This study recommends for continuous collaborative public and private investment on the identified pillars for further growth of travel and tourism in Tanzania.

Key Words: Pillars, Feedback, Tourists, Travel, Tourism

INTRODUCTION

Travel and tourism is one of the fastest growing sectors and one of the driving forces of the economy of many countries in the world (Sofronov, 2018).According to the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC), the tourism industry constituted 10.4% of the worldwide Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in 2018. It generated 319 million jobs, which accounted for 10% of the total employment. Additionally, the tourism sector represented approximately 6.5% of the overall global exports. In 2022, the Travel and Tourism sector contributed 7.6% to the global Gross Domestic Product (GDP), marking a 22% increase compared to 2021 when the SARSCoV-2 pandemic was at its height. It is worth noting that this figure was only 23% below the levels recorded in 2019. Therefore, the tourism sector represents a dynamic market for the growth, development, and capitalization of economies worldwide (Băbăț, 2023).Tourism is understood as the set of experiences that people live during a trip or stay in a place other than their habitual residence, which comprehends leisure, recreation, entertainment and participation in events, in such a way that tourism is considered to be an economic, social, cultural and geographical phenomenon. Research on tourism underscores its impact on people’s quality of life, since it emanates sociocultural and psychosocial value, promoting dreams, realizations, knowledge and exchange of experiences. In this sense, and given the complex reality that shapes the aging process and their impact on societies, senior tourism emerges as an active aging strategy, and it is therefore imperative to invest in this area. In addition, Ashton(2022) developed a study with senior tourists, where they conclude that tourism contributes to the development of positive experiences and appreciation of the abilities of the elderly, facilitating their social integration and overcoming difficulties associated with the aging process, especially if senior tourists will get involved in leisure, recreation and entertainment activities. According to senior tourism represents a sector of new opportunities and a major socio-economic impact, and should therefore be the focus of the tourism industry and social institutions working with the elderly (Silva, 2019).

The given importance of that tourism cannot just occur in the vacuum but caused by various factors sometimes termed as components in a travel destination for tourists’ attraction. Those components include the type of accommodation, entertainment, food, tourism, and transportation that are often characterized by its accessibility, attraction, comfort, facilities, and conditions of mobility. It is extremely important for destinations to constantly provide the highest standard in providing their services to address the tourists’ needs and wants so that they could ensure their satisfaction Furthermore, the given factors are likewise named as enablers of travel and tourism development specifically as travel and tourism pillars (World Economic Forum, 2022). Accordingly, the pillars include enabling environment pillars (i.e. business environment, safety and security, health and hygiene, human resource and labour market and ICT readiness); policy and enabling conditions pillars (i.e. prioritization of travel and tourism, international openness, price competitiveness and environmental sustainability); infrastructure pillars (i.e. air transport infrastructure, ground and port infrastructure, tourist service infrastructure); natural and cultural resources pillars (natural resources, cultural resources and business travel). All these pillars become the index to provide a strategic benchmarking tool for business, governments, international organizations and others to develop the travel and tourism sector. In other words, the pillars account for the efficiency of and access to public transport services such as underground rail systems and taxis as these are regularly used by visitors and to travel and tourism employees especially in urban locations (Lusby, 2021)

The above pillars are insisted as important in influencing the tourists in choosing their destinations for travel and tourism. For instance, the essence of tourists’ decision in choosing a destination is of much significance in determining the best places to go that links them to the critical aspects that may influence the decision making (Chandan, V., 2021). Tourism in Asia and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) developed marketing strategies to augment tourist arrivals (TARR) from different parts of the world (Runasinghe, 2021). Each destination has its own qualities and amenities to offer. The attributes of a travel destination that may influence a tourist decision include accessibility, place, price, safety and security, and political stability It was also mentioned that what influence decision-making include the condition of the place or destination quality, management and environment, transportation, safety and security, culture, likeness of the area, reason and cost of travel  (Ranasinghe et al, 2021)

The influence of the given pillars on success of travel and tourism is believed to touch as well Tanzania as one of the countries with travel and tourism attractions. According to Tanzania Invest (2023), Tanzania’s travel receipts almost doubled to USD 2,560.7 million in 2022 from USD 1,310.3 million in 2021, consistent with the rise in the number of tourist arrivals. Tanzania received 1,454,920 tourists in 2022, compared to 922,692 in 2021, and 616,491 in 2020. In 2020, revenues were down to USD 1 billion as it was severely affected by the Covid-19 pandemic and its impact on international travel, from a peak of USD 2.6 billion in revenues and 1.5 million arrivals in 2019. The sector’s contribution to GDP fell from 10.6% in 2019 to 5.3% in 2020 and climbed to 5.7% in 2021.  However, given the going fast recovery of the sector, Tanzania National Business Council (TNBC) forecast that the share of tourism in the country’s GDP will reach 19.5% in 2025/26. In addition, Tanzania has reached historic heights in which tourism arrivals surpass 1.6 million in year ending May 2023 despite of the cumulative effects of the shocks of the war in Ukraine and the hanging over of the COVID-19 pandemic.  However, the feedback on what causes such historic heights is not yet established. One of the major factors for travel and tourism performance in terms of arrivals, revenues and the revenue-based revealed comparative advantage (RCA) are main pillars of travel and tourism (Bacsi et al., 2023) are the main pillars. It becomes thus significant to obtain feedback of the tourists on the main pillars of travel and tourism in Tanzania. Good or bad feedback would necessitate maintenance or improvement of the pillars in the process of continuing harvesting the potentials of travel and tourism in Tanzania. Therefore, this study evaluated the feedback of the tourists on the main pillars of travel and tourism in Tanzania. It specifically determined their satisfaction on the status (good or bad) of such travel and tourism pillars and how could they rank their satisfaction feedback regarding the same travel and tourism pillars in Tanzania from their experiences of visiting Tanzania especially the North Tanzania including Arusha, Kilimanjaro and Manyara.

METHODOLOGY

Approach of the Study

This study used quantitative approach due to the nature of the main objectives. The given objectives demanded the study to be approached quantitatively with support from quantitative data. The approach likewise facilitated the establishment of statistics on tourists’ feedback on the pillars of travel and tourism in North Tanzania.

Research Design

This study applied descriptive cross-sectional survey designs as they facilitated studying individual TET students as a unit of analysis. The designs assisted in covering large geographical area while measuring the individual tourists’ views, attitudes and characteristics. The designs produced the easy way of analyzing the information from the surveyed students regarding tourists’ feedback on the pillars of travel and tourism in North Tanzania.

Research Area

This study was conducted in Arusha, Kilimanjaro and Manyara. These regions are the northern tourism circuit leading in Tanzania with many tourists’ attractions including large number of national parks. They are ones of the areas in which tourists and other foreigners visit for tourism in Tanzania. They are occupied with businesses and other entrepreneurial enterprises which likewise facilitate to obtain the feedback on the pillars of travel and tourism in North Tanzania.

Population and Sampling

The primary data of this study were collected from tourists from different countries. The multi-sampling technique principally applied in this study in which the population was identified purposively, randomly stratified and eventually conveniently approached for data collection. The convenient sampling technique yielded to 277 respondents.

Data Collection

The primary data of this study were collected principally using the questionnaire. The questionnaire were used as they offered a fast, efficient and inexpensive means of collecting large amount of data regarding the choice for forms of town transport services during vacation in Tanzania.

Data Analysis

The collected data were analysed using Descriptive Statistics. The descriptive statistics was used to quantify and describe the background information of the respondents and their data set at general about the DLS among students in surveyed tourists in North Tanzania. The descriptive statistics results were presented using frequencies and standard percentages, means and standard deviation.

FINDINGS

Background Information of the Respondents

The results on the background information of the surveyed respondents are presented in Table 1.Among the surveyed tourists, 43% were male while 57% were female. The range of ages of surveyed tourists were between 21 and 60 and above years. 18% of the tourists had the age between 21–29 years, 29% had between 31–39 years, 41% had between 40–49 years, 7% had between 50-59 years,  and 5% had 60 and above years. The results further display that, 30% of the tourists were single, 59% were married, 6% were widow and 5% of them were divorced. Moreover, 42% of the tourists came from Europe, 36% came from North America, 21% came from Asia, 8% came from Australia and 7% came from South America. Regarding education level, 1% of the respondents had primary education level, 3% had secondary education level, 59% of them had undergraduate education level (certificate, diploma and bachelor degree) and 37% of the respondents had postgraduate education level. Summarily, the majority of the surveyed tourists were female, had the age between 40 and 49 years old, were married, originally came from Europe and had undergraduate education level (certificate, diploma and bachelor degree).

Table 1: Background Information of the Respondents (n = 277)

Tourists’ Satisfaction on the Travel and Tourism Pillars

One of the specific objectives of the study at hand was to evaluate the satisfaction of the tourists on the pillars of travel and tourism when visiting North Tanzania. The main question was “how satisfied were you with your experience on the pillars of travel and tourism when visiting Manyara, Arusha or Kilimanjaro?” The surveyed tourists gave their respective satisfaction feedback on travel and tourism pillars such as travel and tourism enabling environment, policy and enabling conditions, infrastructures, natural and cultural resources.

The results in Table 2 indicate that 13% of the tourists were very dissatisfied, 14% of them dissatisfied, 51% of them satisfied and 22% of the tourists were very satisfied regarding travel and tourism enabling environment pillars. The majority of the surveyed tourists (51%) were satisfied on the travel and tourism enabling environment pillars such as business environment, safety and security, health and hygiene, human resource and labour market and ICT readiness when visiting North Tanzania. Maintaining or improving more the given pillars would continue to pave the opportunity to harvesting the potentials of travel and tourism in Tanzania.

Furthermore, the results in Table 2 point out that 12% of the tourists were very dissatisfied, 18% of them dissatisfied, 50% of them satisfied and 20% of the tourists were very satisfied regarding travel and tourism policy and enabling conditions. The majority of the surveyed tourists (50%) were satisfied on the travel and tourism policy and enabling conditions pillars such as prioritization of travel and tourism, international openness, price competitiveness and environmental sustainability when visiting North Tanzania. Maintaining or improving more the given pillars would continue to pave the opportunity to harvesting the potentials of travel and tourism in Tanzania.

Moreover, the results in Table 2 call attention that 18% of the tourists were very dissatisfied, 52% of them dissatisfied, 12% of them satisfied, 16% of them were very satisfied and 2% of the tourists were neutral about travel and tourism infrastructures. The majority of the surveyed tourists (52%) were dissatisfied on the travel and tourism infrastructure pillars such as air transport infrastructure, ground and port infrastructure, tourist service infrastructure when visiting North Tanzania. The given pillars need more improvement to rep their potentials in the future.

Besides, the results in Table 2 portray that 10% of the tourists were very dissatisfied, 12% of them dissatisfied, 21% of them satisfied and 57% of tourists were very satisfied on the travel and tourism natural and cultural resources pillars. The majority of the surveyed tourists (57%) were very satisfied on the travel and tourism natural and cultural resources pillars such as natural resources, cultural resources and business travel when visiting North Tanzania. Maintaining or improving more the given pillars would continue to pave the opportunity to harvesting the potentials of travel and tourism in Tanzania.

Generally, the majority of the tourists were satisfied with travel and tourism pillars such as travel and tourism enabling environment, policy and enabling conditions, natural and cultural resources while the majority of them were dissatisfied with travel and tourism infrastructure pillars in Tanzania.

Table 2: Tourists’ Satisfaction on the Travel and Tourism Pillars’ Quality

Tourists’ Satisfaction with respect to Travel and Tourism Pillars

The satisfaction on the travel and tourism pillars were ranked differently by the tourists depending on their experience when visiting Arusha, Kilimanjaro and Manyara. In other words, this section triangulated the satisfaction feedback given by the surveyed tourists in the former section regarding status (good or bad) of the travel and tourism pillars in North Tanzania following their experience when visiting Tanzania for vacation. The given status was measured using the scale 1. Extremely bad, 2. Bad, 3. Neutral 4. Good 5. Extremely good i.e. a mean ranges from 1.0-2.0 is extremely bad; 2.1-3.0 is bad; 3.1-4.0 is good and a mean ranges from 4.1-5.0 is extremely good).

Being that the case, or forms of town transport in obtaining the transport services during vacation in North Tanzania. The results in Table 3 of this study depict that, the tourists ranked

On the subject of ranking status of each category of the travel and tourism natural and cultural resources’ pillars, it was revealed in Table 4 that the tourists ranked natural resources (M=4.889, SD=1.012) and cultural resources (M=4.619, SD=1.001) as having extremely good status while business travel (M=3.971, SD=.981) was ranked by the tourists as having good status.

Table 3: Ranking Tourists’ Satisfaction on Travel and Tourism Pillars

Table 4: Ranking Tourists’ Satisfaction on Categories of Travel and Tourism Pillars

CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION

This study intended to evaluate the feedback of the tourists on the main pillars of travel and tourism in Tanzania. It specifically determined their satisfaction on the status (good or bad) of such travel and tourism pillars and how could they rank their satisfaction feedback regarding the same travel and tourism pillars in Tanzania from their experiences of visiting Tanzania especially the North Tanzania including Arusha, Kilimanjaro and Manyara.

It is generally concluded that, the majority of the tourists were satisfied with travel and tourism pillars such as travel and tourism enabling environment, policy and enabling conditions, natural and cultural resources while the majority of them were dissatisfied with travel and tourism infrastructure pillars in Tanzania.

This conclusion becomes thus significant as an input feedback to maintain the pillars with good status (i.e. travel and tourism enabling environment, policy and enabling conditions, natural and cultural resources) as well as improving the pillar with bad status (travel and tourism infrastructure pillars). This study therefore calls for travel and tourism stakeholders to initiate or continue with collaborative private and public investment in order to continue harvesting the potentials of travel and tourism in Tanzania.

CONTRIBUTION OF THE STUDY

It provides the satisfaction feedback of the customers (tourists) on the status (bad or good) of the travel and tourism pillars in Tanzania

COMPETING INTERESTS

None

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

The authors profoundly acknowledge all stakeholders who contributed to the complete production of the study at hand. Their contributions are highly valued.

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