African Entrepreneurship Records 2

Chapter 1519 Meeting
In the early 20th century, the main audience for tourism was still high-income groups. In the 19s, the first professional travel agency appeared in Britain. At that time, Britain was the first to complete the Industrial Revolution, and its economy grew rapidly, giving people more disposable income and leisure time.

Secondly, the development of the transportation industry has significantly reduced travel costs, making mass tourism possible, such as the emergence of trains and ships.

After the mid-19th century, the tourism industry in the United States developed rapidly, which corresponded to the high-speed development of the United States at that time. At the same time, transoceanic travel was relatively prosperous during this period, such as the Titanic disaster. The great development of the American tourism industry continued until the outbreak of the economic crisis in 1929.

Tourism in East Africa is only just beginning. Before 1910, few ordinary East Africans had the concept of travel, and related industries were virtually nonexistent.

In the 1920s, changes in social thought, industrial and economic development, and the large amount of social wealth acquired by East Africa during World War I led to the official start of tourism in East Africa.

Against this backdrop, the East African government has also included tourism development in its Seventh Five-Year Plan, especially in the northern part of East Africa, which is a key area for tourism industry development.

At this time, the Arusha municipal government.

A conference on regional tourism development is being held, with representatives from the provinces of Prussia, Orient, Great Lakes, Coast, and Plateau participating. The conference is chaired by Mayor Gerenta of Arusha.

"Ladies and gentlemen, I am very pleased that you can gather in Arusha for this meeting. The focus of this meeting is to discuss the topic of 'Tourism Planning in Northern Highlands', to integrate the tourism resources of relevant towns and cities in our five provinces, and to create an internationally renowned tourist destination."

The northern part of the plateau refers to the northern part of the East African Plateau, a region with unique natural conditions and a high concentration of landscapes and protected areas.

Galenta said, "From the islands in the east to the beaches on the coast, to the plains along the coast, to the plateaus in the interior, to the forests, grasslands, deserts, mountains, rivers, canyons, and finally the lakes, the northern plateau can be said to be a collection of rich natural landscapes."

"The modern and technologically advanced Mombasa Island, the exotic ancient city of Zanzibar, the tranquil and natural Pemba Island, the Dar es Salaam metropolitan area with its many cities, the East African Canal, the Little Rhine River, Dodoma, a highland city famous for its railways, the Serengeti plains, Mount Kilimanjaro, Mount Kenya with its tea plantations, the Great Lake, the world's second largest freshwater lake, the East African Rift Valley..."

After Mayor Galenta's assessment, it becomes clear that the region has abundant resources for tourism, and many of these places have a high degree of international renown.

The East African Rift Valley, Lake Victoria, and Mount Kilimanjaro are all frequent subjects in geography textbooks. They are not only widely known in East Africa, but also appear frequently worldwide.

In fact, the Serengeti was once a world-renowned place, and many documentaries about the Great Migration of African savanna animals were filmed here.

However, in the early 20th century, the Serengeti was not well-known internationally because nature documentaries were rare. Even now, with movies not being widespread, the Great Migration of animals in the Serengeti is not widely known.

This magnificent natural spectacle of vibrant life can only be truly appreciated by visualizing it, allowing people in other regions to broaden their horizons.

"We have so many scenic resources, yet we are unaware of our own wealth, which is a huge waste of our advantages," Galenta said.

The director of the Prussian Provincial Department of Culture and Tourism asked, "Mayor Gerenta, what are your thoughts and suggestions?"

The East Africa Cultural and Tourism Authority is a newly established government agency in recent years. Previously, neither culture nor tourism was given much importance in East Africa. In terms of culture, East Africa's history is only a few decades old, and for a long time, East Africa's dark history as a slave-owning country did not allow it to promote its own culture extensively.

Moreover, before World War I, East Africa's diplomacy and cultural propaganda tended to be conservative, and the society was relatively closed. The tourism industry was even worse. In the past, East Africa was closed off from the world, and even its own citizens needed procedures to move around. It was not very friendly to foreign tourists.

Therefore, before the 20th century, East Africa was a country shrouded in mystery to the outside world.

Because of the unique national circumstances, Mayor Gerenta said, "What we should do now is to increase the region's international profile, through newspapers, books, radio, film and television, and introduce the many natural landscapes of the northern plateau to the world and attract foreign tourists."

"What I want to emphasize is the film and television industry. Cinemas are becoming more and more popular around the world, and television is also beginning to appear on a large scale. This means that the film and television industry has a bright future."

“East Africa is one of the most developed countries in the world in terms of film and television industry, with Mombasa and Dar es Salaam ranking among the top in this field, even within the empire.”

"This is our advantage. Take Kitwe, this newly emerging film city, for example. In the past, Kitwe had very little reputation in East Africa, but in recent years it has become very popular, and many filming locations have attracted a lot of tourists."

"So, if we can make good use of film and television as a promotional channel to introduce Kilimanjaro, Zanzibar, the Great Lakes, the East African Rift Valley, and other places to the world, why would we be afraid of not attracting tourists?"

"Therefore, I suggest that Mombasa and Dar es Salaam cooperate to focus on beautifying and promoting the human geography of our region, and then disseminating it to the world through film and television."

"We have abundant natural landscapes, including deserts, grasslands, forests, volcanoes, and snow-capped mountains, all of which are excellent filming locations. In addition, Mombasa and Dar es Salaam have well-developed film and television industries. Gentlemen, do you think my idea is feasible?"

After hearing his words, not to mention the others, the cultural and tourism officials of Dar es Salaam and Mombasa were very interested. On the one hand, it could improve the performance of their departments, and on the other hand, it could promote the development of the film and television industry in the two cities.

They would naturally not oppose such a good thing, and would strongly support it.

Aoun, a representative of the Mombasa City Department of Culture and Tourism, said: "Mayor Gerenta's idea is excellent, and the city of Mombasa supports it. The film and television industry will definitely be an important industry in the future. Even India has a film and television industry. We naturally cannot ignore the huge role that the film and television industry plays in our various cultural and tourism departments, as well as the city's reputation and the empire's external cultural promotion."

The reason why Orn mentioned India is because India's film and television industry is relatively outstanding in the world. Although it cannot compare with countries such as East Africa, the United States, Germany, France and the United Kingdom, it ranks in the second tier of the world and is at the same level as Japan and some European countries.

In 1931, the film and television industry, much like the international political landscape today, was a diverse and flourishing sector.

The film and television industries of various countries are basically neck and neck, with East Africa and the United States being slightly larger in scale. However, the strength of Germany and France should not be underestimated, as they offer higher artistic quality and more avant-garde content.

India's film and television industry has a history of development that is no later than that of other countries. India had already introduced films at the end of the last century, and the first imported film was screened in Mumbai, India in 1896.

India produced its first indigenous mythological film in 1913, and since then, Indian films have emerged in large numbers, becoming quite influential during the silent film era.

This makes India the country with the most developed film and television industry in the Indian Ocean coastal region outside of East Africa. India does indeed have natural advantages in filmmaking, such as its rich mythology and religious themes, profound historical heritage, and the Indian people's talent for singing and dancing.

In contrast, many themes in East Africa's film and television industry rely on "borrowing" from books by European and Far Eastern empires to find various stories and materials.

Of course, East Africa, like the United States, is actually quite good at science fiction films, which may be a common characteristic of countries lacking historical depth.

In conclusion, India's film and television industry is quite strong, and can even compete with East Africa in the Middle East and Southeast Asia markets. Although they rely on Britain for technology and equipment, the film and television industry places more emphasis on content and performance style, and India's strength in these two aspects should not be underestimated.

"The expansion of the film and television market is something we are leveraging to support our own department and the dissemination of East African culture," said Representative Aoun.

"So, when I get back, I will make sure to relay Mayor Galenta's proposal to the director and other departments."

After Aoun finished speaking, representatives from other cities or provincial capitals also expressed their opinions, especially the representative from Dar es Salaam, who was the most enthusiastic, as he did not want to see Dar es Salaam fall behind its rival, Mombasa.

Mayor Gerenta was overjoyed. In any case, as long as the region's visibility could be increased, Arusha, as a key city, would ultimately benefit.

Because Arusha is an important transportation hub for several provinces, it is the best transit point that cannot be bypassed, whether for a nearby visit to Mount Kilimanjaro or for other areas around Arusha, providing logistical and supply support.

For example, if a film crew from Mombasa wants to film in the Serengeti, the city of Arusha can provide them with the equipment, supplies, guides, and even security they need.

In fact, Mayor Gerenta had the idea of ​​developing the film and television industry independently in Arusha. Unfortunately, the film and television industries in Mombasa and Dar es Salaam had already been developed, so he turned to cooperating with the two cities.

However, even so, Arusha is not without a chance to get a share of the pie. Although the film company is located in Mombasa and Dar es Salaam, Arusha can still build branches and filming locations!

In this way, Arusha might be able to divert some of the film and television industry from the two places in the future.

Of course, this is a long-term task. At present, Mayor Gerenta's goal is to establish tourist routes.

He said, “Our northern plateau region has abundant natural landscapes, so it is best to integrate these resources, which requires the construction of transportation routes, accommodation, catering and other service facilities.”

"Ideally, a tourist loop could be formed, so that each city could benefit from it."

"Ultimately, we will build an international integrated tourism park that combines sightseeing, adventure, travel, hunting, beaches, fishing, mountaineering, hiking, health retreats, cycling, rafting, and more."

The mayor of Gerenta alone has difficulty summarizing its functionality and playability, which also confirms the promising prospects of the tourism industry in the northern highlands.

However, tourism and hunting are undoubtedly very attractive to outsiders. For example, the name of the East African Rift Valley alone is very catchy.

East Africa is a paradise for large wild animals, making hunting a very attractive and exciting activity.

Hunting is not completely prohibited in East Africa; there are many legal hunting areas where hunting activities can be carried out with government permission.

Moreover, these legal hunting areas are mostly located in northern East Africa. The reason for this pattern is partly due to the East African government's support for economic development in the north.

The resources and climate of northern East Africa are far inferior to those of the south, which is reflected in the fact that industry and agriculture in the north are relatively weak compared to the south.

Of course, the division between south and north here is mainly based on the equator.

The equator passes through East Africa, bordering the Juba River basin in Somalia to the east, the northern shore of Lake Victoria in the middle, and then traversing the entire Congo rainforest. Except for the Lake Victoria region it passes through, most of the areas on both sides can be described as "barren land".

Therefore, in order to support the economy of North East Africa, the tertiary sector has become an important option. Due to climate and resource limitations, North East Africa is already at a disadvantage in terms of basic conditions for agriculture and industry compared to the South.

Mayor Gerenta said, "However, this project requires a huge investment and coordination among our provinces and municipalities. Therefore, to facilitate cooperation, we can set up a long-term meeting place in Arusha to coordinate the development of tourism in the northern highlands."

At this point, Mayor Gerenta revealed his true intentions: Arusha's ultimate goal was to become the core area of ​​this project.

After all, such cross-regional, multi-province and multi-city cooperation must have a center, and Arusha is clearly the best option in terms of overall conditions.

The area mentioned by Mayor Gerenta alone covers more than 300,000 square kilometers and involves five provinces. For such a large region, Arusha, located in the center, is the best choice to coordinate and integrate the region's resources.

Others were naturally aware of Mayor Gerenta and the city of Arusha's ambitions, but few objected, as Arusha's location, transportation, and resources were essential factors for the project's success.

Putting aside other things, Kilimanjaro, the highest peak in Africa, is located in Arusha and is one of the most important tourism resources that attract domestic and foreign tourists. They can't possibly move this mountain, which is over 5,000 meters high, away. There are also many well-known volcanoes and lakes in East Africa located in Arusha.

In addition, the Serengeti and the East African Rift Valley are also closely connected to Arusha. Arusha is the most convenient passage from the coast to these two regions, and overseas tourists must pass through the coastal areas. Therefore, the importance of Arusha as a regional transportation hub is self-evident.

Therefore, the participants did not object to making Arusha the central city of this tourism project, nor could they find any reason to object.

(End of this chapter)