After three weeks in Tanzania, Africa, Zachary Rozga of WHL Consulting is very enthusiastic about the interest shown in and information shared through his company’s Market Access Program. Training seminars for an audience of more than 215 participants from 140 different accommodation providers in the three main tourism regions of Tanzania (the Northern Circuit, Coastal Tanzania and Zanzibar) demonstrated the degree to which local entrepreneurs are genuinely eager to meet both the demands and the expectations of travellers.
Most of the group in Zanzibar pose for a picture. A record 114 were in attendance at the WHL Consulting seminar.
“These training seminars never cease to amaze me,” said Rozga. “Often they’re the first time that small accommodation owners have ever been together in one room and worked through the common problems they all face in their destinations. It’s incredible how much professional growth takes place over a two-day period.” The training seminars were the capstone of a project managed by WHL Consulting and financed by the Tanzania Private Sector Foundation to improve the ability of the tourism industry to respond to the growing independent travel market in Tanzania. On his travels through three main tourism areas of Tanzania, Rozga was accompanied by Jennifer Aston, Director of the Africa regional office of whl.travel, and Anjali Saini, an energy efficiency expert and WHL Consulting partner.
How It Unfolded
Having identified tourism as a sustainable activity that promotes job creation and pro-poor growth, the government of Tanzania made the decision to take action through the Private Sector Competitiveness Project funded by the World Bank.
Rozga and Aston take a break during a spice tour on Zanzibar, where WHL Consulting delivered its Market Access Program
The overarching goals are threefold: to strengthen and grow the competitiveness of tourism products in Tanzania, to improve individual enterprise market access and to diversify the amount and types of tourism products on offer.
The WHL Consulting piece of the puzzle was in assisting micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) in the Tanzania tourism sector, like accommodations and tour providers, to improve their access to global markets.
WHL Consulting on the Job
The goal of WHL Consulting’s Market Access Program is to educate and provide the tools for accommodation providers eager to be listed on booking websites and to have individual e-commerce-enabled websites for the hotels. Inspired by the immediacy of the results, these tourism professionals find themselves suddenly able to globally promote their product and respond effectively to the rapidly growing independent travel market. WHL Consulting began its work in Tanzania by creating two destination portals through its sister WHL Group company, whl.travel: www.tanzania-tours.com for tours and accommodation in Dar es Salaam, and www.holiday-zanzibar.com for the equivalent in Zanzibar. Two more destination websites covering the Kilimanjaro and Arusha region are still under construction.
One workshop participant in Dar es Salaam, Mr. Razwan Shivji (seated in the foreground), appreciated the effort (see quote below).
Using its Market Readiness Assessment tool, WHL Consulting then conducted an overall audit of existing tourism products in the selected regions. This was coupled with the collection of digital content (pictures and written impressions) that can be used for the creation of high-quality sales collateral for ‘market-ready’ and ‘nearly-ready’ providers. The final step was the Market Access Training Seminars that provided tourism product owners with valuable information on the dynamics and importance of the Internet and e-commerce tourism. “Basically, we review the fundamentals of running an accommodation in today’s globally competitive environment and then provide them with a forum to collaborate, communicate and see themselves for the first time as partners in promoting and developing tourism in their destination,” concluded Rozga.
Testimony That Matters
Razwan Shivji had this to say about his experience of the Market Access Program:
“On behalf of The Management of SAFARI INN LTD and on my own behalf, accept my deepest appreciation for organising the SME hotel owners workshop. The event was very well organised, well presented and had a lot of useful information for Hotel owners in this category. The Tools of Trade learnt in this workshop will help us in achieving our goals and ultimately allow us to be part of the DREAM: DESTINATION TANZANI/DAR ES SALAAM. Congratulations to TPSF Executives and staff for taking the initiative for the above and we hope to work with you again in future in our search for strengthening the Tourism industry.”
Tags: Arusha, Dar es Salaam, Market Access Program, Market Ready Analysis, Michelle Rodrigues, pro-poor tourism, Tanzania, WHL Consulting, World Bank, Zanzibar
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Well done to everyone involved. It sounds like it was a huge success!
I look forward to seeing all the new hotel sites appearing in Tanzania as a result of this project. Congratulations to all involved.
Great to read about this, and to hear it was so successful.
Another WHL consulting success. Congratulations!!!!! In Livingstone the SME\’s were all very eager to learn as well but often forget that they have to work on it themselves all the time and not loose enthusiasm. They tend to believe that when they are on the WHL portal all bookings come automatically. The Livingstone portal is doing extremely well, but many of the SME\’s are a bit disappointed. The consulting program should have an \’evaluation seminar\’ one year along the line.
I am new to the WHL.travel world but I am so impressed with the enthusiasm and determination of the group to promote world travel and the tremendous insight and effort that is put into supporting and encouraging the MPO, hotel and tourism operators. I am thrilled to be a part of an organisation that is definitely thinking globally and equipping us all so we can sustain the travel locally ideology. I am sure that the Tanzania training seminars offered invaluable insight to the accommodation providers and that they will be encouraged and equipped to promote their facilities with confidence, enjoying the results of tangible growth in the near future. Fabulous.
Specifically to Karien. I appreciate your comments and this is something that we also feel something is missing down the road. Unfortunately, thus far we have been working within the constraints of very narrow development projects. They usually have very strict terms of reference and don’t allow us for much lateral movement. Also, they don’t tend to have much future focus, mostly just “ticking boxes” mentality at the time of the project. So to your point, in future projects (especially in real emerging or developmental destinations) we are pitching our projects as longer programs that do include multiple visits over a period of time. If you have any ideas on things we could do specifically in Livingstone, I am all ears (granted they fit within budgetary constraints).
Other commenters thank you for the kind words of support. Looking forward to our next implementations in Mpumulanga, South Africa and Ouro Preto, Brazil.
Anyone one else out there who would like to have a Market Access Program (http://www.whlconsulting.com/market-access-solutions.html) in their destination please let us know! We are always looking for implementation partners!