The popular Masaai Market in Arusha, also known as the Mount Meru Curios and Crafts market, has been entirely rebuilt and upgraded after it burned to the ground leaving hundreds of local traders unemployed last year.

Musa Kahulula, leader of the Mount Meru Curio Market, told Tourism Update that the new market has reopened in July this year. Kahulula explained that although the Tanzanian Tourism Ministry had pledged TZS100m to help rebuild the market, only half of that amount was actually donated. “We only received TZS50m from the government while the cost to rebuild the market was about TZS550m,” he said, adding that the community had joined forces to raise the money.

The Tanzanian tourism industry has welcomed the re-opening of this popular tourist attraction. Anuj Sharma, GM of the African Tulip Luxury Boutique Hotel in Arusha, told Tourism Update that tourists love the market to purchase their souvenirs. He explains that the market has been restored to its former glory and now even features a concrete structure instead of a wooden structure. “This is out of safety concerns so that such incidents should not occur again,” he says.