Tanzania’s Ngorongoro Conservation Area Authority (NCAA) says it received a record number of tourists in first half of the current fiscal year.

Ngorongoro Conservation Area Authority (NCAA) says it recorded a record 534,065 tourists in the first half of 2023-24. In a press statement, NCAA Conservation Commissioner Richard Kiiza said this figure is 10 pc more than the number of tourists that visited the park during the corresponding period in the 2022-23 fiscal year.

‘‘President Samia’s efforts to revive the tourism industry immediately following Covid-19 pandemic, especially after starling in the Royal Tour documentary. That significantly helped to increase the number of tourists at Ngorongoro Conservation Area (NCA), which reached 752,232 for the fiscal year 2022-23, up from 191,614 registered during the 2020-21 period when she assumed the presidency,’’ Kiiza said.

The press statement adds Commissioner Kiiza revealed this while presenting NCAA performance report to media in Tanzanian capital Dar es Salaam.

Elaborating, Commissioner Kiiza stated that for the fiscal year 2023-24, it is anticipated that the number of tourists visiting the world’s famous attraction will rise to one million. The influx of tourists has consequently beefed the state coffers, with revenue collected at NCA soaring from TZS 31 billion (USD 12.2 million) in fiscal year 2020-21, to TZS 171 billion in the 2022-23 financial year.

‘‘This is the highest rate ever collected by the Authority,’’ he said, adding that given that TZS 123 billion have already been collected in the first half of the 2023-24, financial year, the income is anticipated to reach over TZS 200 billion at the end of the financial year.

Kiiza added that the NCAA, working with specialised organs to combat poaching, has been successful in containing instances of wildlife poaching both inside and beyond the Pololeti Reserve Forest in the Ngorongoro District of Arusha Region.

‘‘We have been able to control elephant poaching incidents from 25 incidents in 2020-21 to one incident in 2022-23,’’ he said.

The NCAA has successfully increased the population of black rhinoceroses by 25 pc between 2021 and 2023, he said, attributing the feat to best protection measures being instituted by the government.