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Tanzania tourism up as gold income falls

Wednesday January 07 2015
serengeti

Tourists at the Serengeti National Park. Kenya Tourism Federation will use results of a study on two travel documents to chart the way forward for the regional industry. FILE PHOTO |

Gold, once Tanzania’s largest foreign exchange earner, sustained a fall in the value of income from its exports as the mineral faces trouble in the world market.

The value of gold exports reached above US$2.08 billion in the year ending October 2012, but the shipment decelerated to US$1.75 billion in 2013 and stood at US$1.35 billion in the year to October 2014, according to Bank of Tanzania (BoT).

The figure puts the mineral in the second largest foreign exchange recipient after travel (tourism) which has been increasing in the last few years.

Travel raked in US$1.96 billion in the year to October 2014, up from US$1.79 billion in the same period in 2013 and US$1.62 billion in 2012, BoT’s November Monthly Economic Review shows.

READ: Quest for tourist dollar killing cultural tourism

“Gold which has been dominant in the non-traditional export recorded a decline following a decrease in both volume and price,” says the statement. The yellow metal has been trading below the 2013’s close of above US$1,200 per ounce in the world market and the trend has affected its income in Tanzania.

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The total value of Tanzania’s exports of goods and services was US$8.6 billion, being 3.3 per cent higher compared with the amount that was recorded in the corresponding period in 2013. The development was attributed to good performance in exports of manufactured goods, fish and fish products as well as increase in travel and transport receipts, BoT says.

Export of manufactured goods increased by 35.5 per cent to US$1.37 billion with a notable increase recorded in edible oil, textile apparels, plastic goods, fertilizers and paper products.

During the period, the value of traditional exports was US$768.2 million compared with US$841.7 million recorded in the year ending October 2013.

READ: Global hotel chains invest in East Africa’s growing tourism sector

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