ABSTRACT
For the past two decades, Tanzania has had one of Africa's most rapidly growing tourism industries. Following the liberalization of the country's economic policies beginning in 1986, the tourism industry has expanded from annual revenues of US$65 million in 1990 to over US$800 million today, accounting for around 10–15 per cent of the country's gross domestic product (GDP). The country's tourism industry is based on a suite of natural and biological assets that few other African nations can match: the unparalleled abundance of wildlife in the Serengeti ecosystem; Africa's largest wildlife protected area in the Selous Game Reserve; Mount Kilimanjaro; and 1000km of pristine reef-fringed Indian Ocean coastline. Just as tourism has come to play a major role in the country's sustained macroeconomic growth of the past decade, tourism revenues underpin national investments in biodiversity conservation through a protected area network that covers over 25 per cent of the country's land area. For example, the Serengeti National Park generates about US$8.5 million annually in revenue from visitor entry fees and other levies. This revenue not only funds management of the Serengeti but other, newer parks elsewhere in the country (TANAPA, 2005).
