Why Zanzibar’s hospitality is exemplary
By DEOGRATIAS MUSHI, 

ZANZIBARIS and tourists buy snacks at Forodhani area in Stone Town.

SPENDING a weekend in Zanzibar could be very fascinating, especially to a person who goes there for recreational purposes. I was in the Isles for a business-cum holiday tour last Saturday and my conclusion is that people running tourism business in Tanzania mainland have a lot to learn from their counterparts in Zanzibar in terms of business techniques and hospitality.

I am saying this because right from the time I landed at the Zanzibar International Airport until when I left the island the day after, there was nothing that I could complain about. This wasn’t my first time in Zanzibar. I had been going there on official visits that rarely left me with time to walk around and see how people live. This time I had the opportunity to visit different places.

From the airport I told a taxi driver, Ali Musa Hamis, to take me to a good but affordable hotel. He promised me that there were several of them around the Stone Town area. Having gone through three hotels where I was told that a night could at least cost me 50,000/-, I decided to go further searching for a cheaper accommodation, and eventually I arrived at Abuso Inn hotel near Tembo tourist hotel.

At the counter I found one Mr Hamid Abubakar who looked very hospitable as he told me: ‘Karibu Sana’, meaning you are mostly welcome. I asked how much was a room and he answered “Fifty thousand only – bed and breakfast”. When I wanted to leave in search for a cheaper accommodation, Mr Abubakar, a short bearded middle aged person, told me not to leave.

“How much could you afford Sir”, he gently asked me as he went ahead and told one of the House Keepers to take my bag to the room after he accepted to receive what I could only afford. The room was indeed neat, including the bed and toilet. Mr Abubakar who owns the hotel says that his main interest is to make his clients happy, so that when they go back to their countries they may speak well of his hotel and in the long run make more customers.

“I normally establish good friendship with all my clients, and as a result each year I get visitors from Europe and other places who are directed by my former clients”, he says. He adds that he tries as much as he can to include Zanzibar’s culture and hospitality in his business, because that will make his place look inimitable and exceptional in tourism business.

Having taken shower, I came down to the restaurant where I met some friends from Dar es Salaam who were also putting up in the same hotel. They all told me that they preferred the place because of its owners’ kindness. Majority of the visitors that particular night were tourists from Scandinavian countries. My talk with them later substantiated that they
came to know the place from people who had stayed in the same hotel before.

My visit to Stone Town and Darajani areas that particular evening made me discover how Zanzibaris handle visitors amicably, especially by engaging in dialogue with them. In one of the curio shops, I even saw how tourists from Italy were negotiating prices with the owner, Ms Fatuma Hamis, using Italian language. “We have been forced to learn foreign languages to enable us handle customers effectively”, she told me.

Unlike Tanzania mainland, where curio shops sell expensive items, most such shops in the Isles are not expensive and tourists are able to buy a lot of things, especially during the current high tourism season. The Forodhani area, a magnificent place where food and drinks are sold in the evening, makes Zanzibar a very distinguished place in tourism, because in Tanzania mainland there are no such places.

This is an open area near the sea, where tourists intermingle with the locals in eating, drinking and generally, passing the evening together while entertained by the local music which comes from the background. Local foods like roasted meat (mishikaki), sugar cane juice, roasted cassava and different kinds of sea foods are sold in this area at very affordable prices.

A friend from the mainland working in Zanzibar, Mr Simon Chuwa, told me that some people living in Stone Town rarely cook in the evening, and instead take their families to the Forodhani area for supper. Children get time to play around after eating, while their parents are engaged in talks with their friends. “I have lived here for the past 15 years, and I enjoy
coming here once in a while because I can buy cheap food, and above all, enjoy good sea breeze” says Mr Chuwa.

There are some businessmen from Masailand in the mainland, who have also travelled to Zanzibar in search of fortune. These people do lucrative business at Forodhani area in the evening, selling beads and other hand-made goods to tourists. Saning’o Mollel said he has worked in Zanzibar for the past 12 years.

He moved there from Esilalei village in Monduli district, Arusha region after he had sold some of his cows to enable him get a capital for business in the Isles. “I am very comfortable and I have brought my wife and children to Zanzibar because I make more money than when I was in Arusha,” says Mr Mollel, thanking Zanzibaris for their generosity. Mollel admits that the Revolutionary Government of Zanzibar has been providing them with all kinds of assistance they need to engage themselves in tourism business and other social activities there.

He advises tourists and hotel owners from Arusha to visit Zanzibar and learn how to run their businesses profitably. Mollel’s views are echoed by Mr Abubakar, the owner of Abuso Inn, who says that in the mainland there is a lot of local attractions that could be used to magnetize tourists, but unfortunately they have not been well utilized.