By Kizito Makoye
DAR ES SALAAM, Tanzania (AA) - It is a bright day at Mwenge, a bustling woodcarvers market in Tanzania’s largest city, and Sebastian Lyala is busy shaving the surface of rough wood with a chisel.
A trail of thin dust gently rises into the air as he briskly scrapes the wood with a blade to give it a soft texture.
“It is a tough job, you need special skills and experience to do this,” he told Anadolu Agency.
The 47-year-old carver is among many creative craftsmen in the smoke-belching city who are feeling the pinch of dwindling income triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The woodcarvers market, which hosts a horde of 200 artisans, has experienced a poor flow of customers.
“I don’t get many customers as it used to be in the past, a week may pass without selling anything,” complained Lyalla.
- Travel restrictions
According to him, the lockdowns imposed by governments worldwide to quell the spread of the deadly virus have restricted movements of foreign tourists who are his main customers.
“My family is literary starving. I am thinking of doing something else to bring food to the table,” said Lyalla.
Despite being close to Mlimani city, a bustling shopping mall popular with tourists, the craftsmen market is visibly deserted.
Before the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic in mid-March 2020, tourists were flocking to buy African artwork including Makonde carvings, or “vinyago” in Swahili, and paintings.
However, the craftsmen are now experiencing a severe cash crunch due to a sustained reduction in the flow of customers.
The carvers, most of whom locked out of their livelihood, produce items largely considered non-essential, which explains why their worsening plight does not get attention.
Susanna Nkaswe, a native Makonde craftswoman whose cultural identity is boldly painted on her face, said the disruption of business caused by the deadly disease has broken their backbones.
“We feel completely helpless without income and customers,” she said.
As one of Africa’s favorite tourist destinations, Tanzania is known for its rich cultural heritage and tourist attractions including Mt. Kilimanjaro and parks dotted with wildlife.
Tourism is a cornerstone of the country’s economy, contributing about 17.2% to the GDP, and 25% of foreign exchange revenue.
- Massive revenue loss
Due to the coronavirus pandemic, the sector, which was a leading foreign exchange earner in 2019, significantly dropped its revenue to $1 billion in 2020, down from $2.6 billion a year before.
Tourist arrivals in 2020 fell to 616,491, from 1.5 million in 2019, whereas the earnings further declined to $795.8 million in May 2021, according to government data.
While the sector offers prospects for growth, job creation, increased foreign exchange earnings, and expanding the tax base to finance development expenditures, analysts say this potential has not been tapped to drive future investments.
A recent World Bank Report titled Transforming Tourism: Toward a Sustainable, Resilient, and Inclusive Sector showed tourism activities fell sharply in 2020, causing job losses and closure of businesses.
According to the report, the pandemic crippled business sectors, including tourism and manufacturing, and badly affected the country’s job market.
“Tanzania’s tourism sector has long suffered from mutual distrust between the government and private firms, with the former complaining of widespread tax evasion and the latter citing government inefficiencies and misunderstanding of the way the sector functions. The pandemic has created an opportunity to reset this relationship,” the report said.
Amid the pandemic, the World Bank estimated that Tanzania’s GDP growth decelerated to 2% in 2020, as businesses in export-oriented sectors wilted.
The report showed tourism sector’s revenue dropped by 72% in 2020.
- Untold suffering
The ripple effect of COVID-19 has reverberated across the entire hospitality industry, causing untold suffering to people and organizations due to job losses and cash crunch.
A spot check by Anadolu Agency reveals every business or service provider in Tanzania’s tourism value chain, including a farmer supplying vegetables to a restaurant and a taxi driver shuttling tourists from the airport to hotels, are all feeling the pinch.
Hotel employees and entrepreneurs who have lost their jobs are still reeling under dire economic circumstances.
James Magenzi, who cooks tasty French fries and roast chicken close to Mwenge market, says his income has substantially dropped as people avoid eating in street food joints.
“I cook by orders. I have incurred huge losses which I can no longer bear,” he said.
Across Dar es Salaam, the economic crisis triggered by the pandemic has affected many hotels, bars and restaurants.
“I lost my job and I have not been able to get a new one,” said Rose Kisaka, a former hotel waitress.
The city hotels are hit hardest due to massive cancellations of flights, tours, events, and reservations.
The hotel occupancy rates in Dar es Salaam and average room rates dropped sharply in mid-2020, causing significant declines in profit margins, according to financial observers.
While many craftsmen at Mwenge fear the impact of COVID-19 probably marks the end of their livelihoods, observers say it is their creativity and resilience that will save them.
“All they want is the means to be back on their feet again,” said Rose Upor, a senior lecturer of humanities at the University of Dar es Salaam.
Observers believe the industry will not be the same long after the lockdowns and travel restrictions are lifted.
“Hoteliers must adopt survival strategies against the pandemic since desperate situation requires desperate measures,” says Japhet Kamugisha, a consultant and food and beverage manager at Golden Tulip hotel.
“The road to recovery is going to be long and hotels must start today since a long journey begins with a single step,” he said.