Ethiopian Airlines announced as ATA 33rd Congress official carrier

DAR ES SALAAM, Tanzania (eTN) – Few weeks before the delegates of the Africa Travel Association (ATA) 33rd Annual Congress arrive in Tanzania’s northern tourist city of Arusha, Ethiopian Airlines has announced its decision to become the official carrier of the conference participants.

The ATA 33rd Congress organizers in Tanzania confirmed the partial flight sponsorship of Ethiopian Airlines where international delegates will be offered a 30 percent discount by the Africa’s fast expanding airline.

“Ethiopian Airlines proudly announced to be sponsorship partner with the Africa Travel Association (ATA) 33rd Annual Congress to be taking place in Arusha, Tanzania next month,” ATA congress organizers said in Tanzanian capital of Dar es Salaam.

With a wider global network, Ethiopian Airlines will discount all ATA Congress participants originating from its all destinations including those from the United States, Europe and South East Asia.

With ticket approval code ADD08321, a participant can get the discount from any travel agent provided he or she has an accreditation letter for the conference or participants list, which will be sent from the airline’s headquarters.

Participants holding off-line point will have special add-on through other airlines to connect Ethiopian Airlines at its gateway with discount on Ethiopian portion.
Ethiopian Airlines, counted as the fastest growing African carrier, operates daily flights to Tanzania, landing at Kilimanjaro International Airport (KIA) some 45 kilometers from the tourist city of Arusha and the capital Dar es Salaam on the Indian Ocean coast.

The airline is among the longest serving international carrier connecting Tanzania with the rest of the world through its hub in Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa.

From 1975, ATA launched its annual African conferences or Congresses aimed at bringing together key players in African tourism in partnership with their American counterparts.

Tanzania was honored to host the ATA 23rd Congress in 1998 and again this year, from May 19th to 23rd. This year’s 33rd ATA annual congress is being held in Tanzania at the right time when tourism in this African destination is experiencing growth.

Since the ATA 23rd Annual Congress held in Tanzania ten years ago, there has been good results in country’s tourism with fast growth of over five percent per year, giving this African state favorable returns from the travel trade sector, said ATA executive director Eddie Bergman.

Under the theme, “Bring the World to Africa and Africa to the World”, the ATA conference will yet again, give Tanzania a good chance to publicize its tourist resources in United States of America.
Bergman said Tanzania has been selected to host this crucial tourism conference because of the country’s position in tourism development marked by growth and investments.

He added that his organization, ATA, has been actively pursuing a campaign aimed to bring the world to Africa and Africa to the world and that, Tanzania had provided an excellent venue because of its diverse and booming tourism industry attracting record numbers of visitors from all over the world other than the USA.

“Given Tanzania’s close ties to ATA’s partnership with the Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA), ATA will realize its goal to make the ATA 33rd conference in Arusha to break new ground by having for the first time a delegation from the Asian travel industry”, he said.

The five-day gathering in Tanzania’s northern tourist hub of Arusha will address topics such as new tourism growth markets, Africa outbound travel and social interactions.

Tanzanian Ministry of Natural Resources and Tourism and the Africa Travel Association (ATA) had announced last year that Tanzania will host the Africa Travel Association’s 33rd Annual Congress from 19-23 May 2008 in the country’s “Safari Capital.”

The announcement was made by then Natural Resources and Tourism Minister Jumanne Maghembe and Bergman.

“When Tanzania hosted ATA in 1998, it marked the official re-launch of our country’s promotion in the American market,” said Minister Maghembe, adding, “The results were excellent. Tourism in Tanzania is now booming.

ATA has been playing significant roles to Tanzania’s tourism one initiative being the introduction of annual ATA/Tanzania Tourist Board (TTB) Awards launched in 2001 to honor companies, individuals and the media which have been in front line to promote Tanzanian tourism.

The rapid growth in the number of tourists from the American market during the past ten years since the ATA Congress was held in Arusha has resulted in the U.S. becoming the number two source for Tanzania visitors worldwide.

“Now, we anticipate that hosting the 2008 Congress will most definitely generate even more tourism growth from the US, soon making it the number one source market. Tanzania’s goal is to receive 150,000 American visitors annually in the next few years,” said Maghembe.

Looking at African tourism, ATA has brought the continent closer to the world through conferences/congresses, dialogues and symposia. Tanzania has been a key leader in promoting and advocating the continent’s tourism in the USA and other parts of the world.

Former Tanzanian Natural Resources and Tourism Minister Zakia Meghji held key ATA honorable post as its president for a number of years and worked hard to advocate Africa’s tourism under the banner “Africa: the new millennium destination,” among others.

ATA’s five-day Congress program in Arusha will be addressing topics such as new tourism growth markets, Asia outbound travel, and social responsibility and the travel industry, attracting ATA’s Young Professionals Network and African Diaspora network, which were established during ATA’s 10th Annual Eco and Cultural Tourism Symposium in Nigeria in November 2006 with aims to foster relation among young people in Africa and those in Diaspora in America.