Blue Economy Promotion in Tanzania: The Case of Zanzibar and the Lake Zone.

Abstract

This article examines the promotion of the blue economy in Tanzania with special focus on two case studies: Zanzibar and the Lake Zone. The former case represents blue economy defined narrowly to refer to oceans and seas only; and the latter makes use of the broad definition of the blue economy to include all water bodies incorporating even lakes, rivers and streams. It has been underscored that Zanzibar has put more effort in the promotion of the blue economy and attracting tourists and revenue despite its tendency to over- depend on the marine tourism sector. This tendency led to the drop of real GDP growth by almost 80 percent in 2020 due to COVID-19 intensification compared to 30 percent drop of the economy (GDP) in the Lake Zone. This was due to the diversification of the economy into water-based and off-shore related tourism, irrigation and aquatic agriculture and off-shore mining and industrial and other activities in the Lake Zone. The article ends with provision of policy socio-economic recommendations.