The Impact of the Financial Crisis on the Tourism industry: The case study of Tanzania.

Abstract: Title: The Impact of the Financial Crisis on the Tourism industry: The case study of Tanzania. Author: Beda Fabian Lyimo Supervisor: Anders Hederstierna Department: School of Management, Blekinge Institute of Technology Course: Master’s thesis in business administration, 15credits (ECTS) Background and Problem Discussion: The tourism industry has been considered to be an important sector in Tanzania for many years whereby it has strong positive effects on the economic development of the country. The positive impact of tourism on the host country is in areas such as foreign exchange earnings, employment opportunities, poverty elimination, provision of social services and improvement of the infrastructure. However the current worldwide top agenda of the financial crisis has weakened the above efforts of the tourism industry towards the economic development of Tanzania. Therefore it is the researcher’s belief that there is a need to conduct an in depth study to scrutinize the impact of the financial crisis on the tourism industry in Tanzania. Purpose: This study will provide an insight into the tourism industry on how the current recession affects this sector. This might help to create sufficient and sustainable measures on how to hedge against the crisis within the sector so as to boost the economic development of Tanzania. Method: The researcher conducted an empirical study by using both secondary and primary source of data from the tourism authorities as well as stakeholders in general. For the primary data the main instrument used was telephone interviews with the tourism officials in Tanzania while questionnaires were added to explore both domestic and international tourists’ views on the financial crisis on the tourism industry. Both interview questions and questionnaires were designed using a semi-structured approach. Theory: The researcher explored theories which link tourism and economic development as there were no direct specific theories on tourism. Analysis: The analysis of the research findings was undertaken by using a qualitative approach to the data analysis whereby the impacts of the financial crisis on the tourism industry in Tanzania were discussed in depth. Conclusion: The analysis showed that there are impacts of the financial crisis on the tourism industry in Tanzania. The analysis also showed that there are measures suggested to mitigate the situation however there is still a problem as most of these measures are not yet effectively implemented which could delay its significance, therefore the tourism sector could lose its potential to boost the economic development of Tanzania. Due to these reasons the researcher provided recommendations and suggested areas for further research to enable an in depth study in the future.