On 26th February 2024, Ambassador Baraka Luvanda accompanied by Embassy staff paid a courtsey visit to the Headquarters of Japan Association of Travel Agents (JATA) in Tokyo. Ambassador Luvanda was well received by Mr. Kaniharu Ebina, President of JATA accompanied by Mr. Hideo Okubo, Deputy General Manager in Outbound Travel Promosion Division, and Mr. Kazuhiko Fukushima, Director of Sales and Planning in Tourism EXPO Japan Promotion Office.
During the meeting, Mr. Okubo expressed his appreciation for Ambassador Luvanda’s visit and explained about his special attachment to Tanzania cultivated by his close friendship with Former Ambassador of Japan to Tanzania, Mr. Shinichi Goto who used to talk a lot about the country. He then articulated his appreciation to Tanzania continued participation to Japan Tourism Expo that takes place every year during autumn season. He underscored the importance of cooperation between the Embassy and JATA to keep the latter updated on development of tourism sector in the country. Additionally, Mr. Okubo highlighted the importance of Tanzania to widen the scope of tourism attractions not only focusing on common areas such as national parks and animals. He reiterated JATA’s readiness for a continuous collaboration with the Embassy in promoting Tanzania’s tourist attractions.
On his part, Ambassador Luvanda expressed his appreciation to Mr. Okubo and his team for their time for the meeting and continued cooperation. He continued by mentioning the special assistance rendered to the Tanzania by JATA during the 2022 and 2023 Tourism Expos and asked for the continued assistance in the future. Ambassador Luvanda explained in details about the statistics of tourists visiting Tanzania and activities done by the Embassy to promote the sector. He agreed with Mr. Okubo’s advice of widening the scope of tourist attractions and promised to work on it.
Additionally, Ambassador Luvanda mentioned about “Swahili International Tourism Expo” (S!TE) which is Tanzania's leading International indoor Tourism Expo, innovated & hosted by Tanzania Tourist Board (TTB). Through JATA, he invited and encourage Japanese to participate in the event. The focus of this event extends to various significant aspects of the tourism industry, including marketing, sustainability, conservation, and other market-related issues.
Ambassador concluded by bringing into attention to JATA about Japan African Diplomatic Corp’s (ADC) even called Ima No Africa that is currently under preparation and is expected to take place on 25th Mei 2024 at Sheokaze Park. As the Chairperson of the ADC Ima No African Committee, he invited JATA to join ADC in their effort to promote African tourism.
Mr. Okubo commented on the importance of African holding an event such as Ima No Africa to promote tourism especially during this post-COVID period. This will increase the number of Japanes visiting Africa. He stated that JATA and its stakeholders are highly interested to hear about Ima No Africa and would like to be updated accordingly so that they can participate.
