LEAH BROWN

DAR ES SALAAM, TANZANIA- Only 66 out 203 hotels have been graded and awarded appropriate stars in Tanzania under the approved East African Community (EAC) criteria at a cost of Tsh 200 million (US$ 133,330).

This is only 32 per cent of all hotels. The assessed hotels are in Dar es Salaam and Coast regions. The other 68% hotels are the other 19 regions. They too will be assessed by the hotels' expert consultative committee later.

Speaking during the launch of tourism expert consultative committee and an authority for appeal for tourism sector disputes, the Minister for Natural Resources and Tourism, Ms Shamsa Mwangunga, said her Ministry has been in the forefront to improving the tourism sector in the country.

Currently, the tourism sector contributes about 17.2 % of the national Gross Development Product. The Minister said Tanzania has been promoting the country through various adverts and through the recent exercise of assessing the standards of hotels.

"We have been struggling to promote tourism services in order to offer good standards and good quality," she noted.