Professional Tour Guide School: 284. News: Cultural Tourism Training in Mtwara

Cultural Tourism Goes South.

The Cultural Tourism Programme was established in 1996 by the government through the Tanzania Tourist Board (TTB) with technical and financial assistance from the Netherlands Development Organisation (SNV).

Since its inception, the programme has shown good potential for contributing directly to poverty reduction from tourism through: direct tour fees, jobs/salaries for local people, market for local products (food stuffs and handcrafts), exposure to knowledge and increase in confidence to local people to do little known things.

Training has been part of this process and all Cultural Tourism Enterprises - CTEs, got different trainings at different levels and times.

This is time it was for Mtwara.

The following is a short tour by the training team and we invite you to enjoy different memorable moments with us.

Karibu.

The team:

Mary Lwoga: Cultural Tourism Coordinator, Arusha.

Deograsias J. Mdamu -Principal Tourism Officer, Tourism Division - Ministry of Natural Resources & Tourism, Dar-es-Salaam.

Elirehema Matulo: Cultural Tourism Development Officer, Arusha.

Gloria Mnhambo: Senior Tourism Information Officer - Tanzania Tourist Board - TTB, Dar-es-Salaam.

Vedasto Izoba: Facilitator & Trainer; Principal of The Professional Tour Guide Schoool - PROTS, Arusha.

Photos and documents can enlarged by clicking on them.

Below: Being typical tourists, accommodation facilities were big deals! The BS Motel in Dar - es-Salaam, gave us a comfortable night's sleep ready for the long journey to Mtwara, the next day.

Below: At Mkuranga Petrol Station we had to top-up.

Tourists read maps! And so did we! Reading this one we realized Mtwara is at the other end of the world! Mzee Mshana had to "Press the Accelerator to the Boards".

A stop-over at Ikwiriri to buy oranges.

Below: Many rewarding and great sightings on the way!

Some Stop-overs for water breaks and stretching our legs at Breath-taking viewpoints. So high you could feel touching the sky!

Below: Transfers from one station to another took full days - from Sunrise to Sunsets:

But with soothing Soft music from ............... the African Makhirikhiri! And Zaiko Langa Langa we managed!

Only to arrive in Mtwara to find our bookings have not been honoured! Being typical tourists, we managed to secure some places to sleep in.

And then, the seminar was under way at the KKKT Conference Hall.
The attendance was beyond our expectations.

Below: Mr. Mshana, the Regional Natural Resources Officer in the opening stages.

Official opening by the Mtwara RAS

Field Trip to Mikindani Ruins with an amazing number of ruins and rich historical buildings.

The Old Boma Hotel.

Old Boma Hotel: - The History Book with rich historical information about Kilwa

Back to the KKKT Conference Hall the seminar went on and the major topics were as follows: 1. Overview of the Performance of Tourism in Tanzania. (Observations, Statistics & Figures. 2. Tourism Industry & Role of MNRT/Tourism Division , TTB and Private Sector.
3. Overview of Cultural Tourism Development. Definition, History, Current Operational Status, Challenges, Way Forwar.
4. Tourism Product Development & Identification.
5. Role of the Tanzania Tourist Board – Marketing;
6. Business Management Skills, Product Princing & Business Record Keeping.
7. CTP Guidelines Presentation 8. Professional Tour Guiding Skills.

Mwl. Izoba in action.