The Tanzania Tourist Board (TTB), together with Africa Tourism Partners (ATP), will kick-start the positioning and marketing of Tanzania as a Business and Meetings, Incentives, Conference and Exhibition/Events (MICE) tourism destination this month.

The Masterclass will commence on October 22 to 23 and 25 to 26, at the Ramada Encore Hotel in Dar es Salaam and Mt. Meru Hotel in Arusha, respectively.

The collaboration with ATP is to upskill travel and tourism professionals in Tanzania in business and MICE tourism.

Prospective participants include professionals, executives, and offices of Travel Management Companies, Destination Management Companies, Professional Conference Organisers, conference centres, hotels, tour district and municipal tourism organisations and associations.

The course aims to launch Tanzania’s preparedness to diversify its tourism assets through business and MICE tourism. It also intends to enliven and enhance skills and capacity of industry professionals to help them to become strategic leaders within Tanzania’s business and MICE tourism, and entities.

According Kwakye Donkor, CEO, Africa Tourism Partners, Tanzania is an ideal country for conferencing. “There is an opportunity for domestic, regional and continental meetings as most of these are held on a rotational basis.”

Travel buyers, suppliers, and national and regional tourism professionals have a critical role to play in advancing the country’s vision of positioning and marketing Tanzania as business and MICE tourism destination. However, these professionals need to refresh their skills in order to adequately assist the country to realise its full potential. “To be regionally and globally competitive, Tanzania must have skilled professionals. In this way, we will be able to offer unforgettable business and MICE tourism experience on a par with the rest of the world,” noted Devota Mdachi, Managing Director of TTB.

“We therefore believe that our partnership with ATP to deliver this initiative will help achieve this as they bring a differentiated and unique experience as recently demonstrated at their Masterclasses on Africa MICE and business tourism and sustainable tourism product development during their Africa Tourism Leadership Forum and Awards in Johannesburg, South Africa and Accra, Ghana respectively,” added Mdachi.

The MICE sector represents big business. It delivers major economic benefits key to growth in tourism and leisure development worldwide. “ATP is keen to work with partners like TTB. We’re committed to share fresh perspectives on business tourism and MICE, considering that the sector’s benefits extend far beyond the actual events,” said Donkor. “It comes with investment opportunities being generated on both host and visitor countries. We are proud to be part of this.”

Donkor says business and MICE tourism can also stimulate the leisure sector. “Tanzania has some of the best global tourist attractions, such as the Serengeti, Kilimanjaro, Zanzibar, and the Ngorogoro Crater, which are on the bucket list for many people. These are also fantastic tourist attractions for MICE.

“Business tourists spend more, bring investments and ultimately become a leisure tourist. The economic benefits of MICE tourism far outweigh that of a leisure tourist.”

To register, or for information, contact Colleta Nchimbi: colleta.nchimbi@tanzaniatourism.go.tz, or phone: +255 22 266 4878 / +255 75 996 8469.