Cultural Tourism: Fast becoming popular in Tanzania

CULTURAL tourism is that part of tourism which is concerned with a country or region’s culture of the people. Cultural tourism includes tourism in urban areas, particularly historic or large cities and their cultural facilities such as museums and theaters. It can also include tourism to rural areas, the houses of famous writers and artists or just trips to places where one can learn about people’s culture. Cultural tourism is an important component of tourism. People can travel all the way from Europe to Africa just to learn about certain cultures of the local people around. On the other hand, The Tanzanians themselves can sense the admiration and appreciation of the foreigners for something which they themselves regard as absolutely normal. They realize that, their culture, their lives, the things they produce and how they produce them, as well as their interaction in the community, is something special for the foreigner and is an attraction of itself. This fills them with pride and it strengthen them in their efforts to preserve their cultural characteristics.

Cultural tourism is all about African traditional dances as the photo depicts.

Going around and access Tanzania, one finds more interesting things. An essential element of cultural tourism is the invitation to take part in the communal life. Sharing community life is one of the special; experiences that cultural tourism offers. What is meant by this is the encounter and the direct communication with the people in the respective villages. Cultural tourism probably fulfils the subconscious longings of the travelers coming from a highly industrialized world striving for a simpler life in harmony with nature, feeling safe and comforted in the hearty or an intact community which does not know anonymity and loneliness.
People don’t just pass each other in silence, they stand and greet even strangers, something foreigners especially Europeans find amazing. Tanzania for instance, apart from its rich vast resources of tourist attraction areas which are located in both Southern and Northern circuit, has famous tribes which are known for preserving their own cultures, and because of that, they have attracted a lot of attention from the whole world.
Tourists can come specifically to learn about culture of the different ethnic groups, how they live, their love and their way of dressing and many other things. One might also want to know why they would rather want to stick to their kind of life in spite of the changes going on around the globe. Talking to them finds out what it is that really makes them want to stick to their culture could be quite interesting as well. The Maasai tribesmen are perhaps the most well known ethnic group who fiercely guard their culture and traditions. Their tribal life resolves around protecting and caring for their herd of cattle and finding good grazing land for their flocks in the region. It’s not only the Maasai that people find more interesting, even Tanzanian culture itself is interesting.

This is Maasai community adorned in Maasai traditional attire at the base of Longai mountains in Arusha region, Tanzania.

Tourism is more than going to see the famous places, but people’s culture is very enriching. Sometimes people engage in cultural tourism without unaware in the sense that, their language speaking can change someone’s attitude. Tanzania as a whole, the former slave market in Zanzibar tells it all about the slave trade, Zanzibar has preserved a lot of history and culture and it offers a good example of cultural tourism in then country. Apart from teaching people about the culture, cultural tourism in itself is a major source of income. Governments makes money out of cultural tourism whereby people come to see these places and people who preserve culture through entry fees to the places. The locals also make money through selling of artifacts. Tourists coming to Tanzania also enjoy cultural diversity and hospitality, ranging from African Arabic to Indian. Apart from mount Kilimanjaro, Tanzania boasts of a number of 15 national parks countrywide. Tanzania is also rich in historic sites, most of these are located in eastern coast of Africa. Little can be found in Southern Highland Region.