Her Excellency, President Samia Suluhu Hassan’s documentary that is set to promote Tanzania’s tourist attraction sites to a global audience could not have come at a better time.

Currently, the global economy has been ravaged by the Covid-19 pandemic and countries are grappling with the devastating impact of the virus. One of the worst hit industry world over is the Tourism Industry. Many countries were on lock down and some still are due to the breakout of new strains of the virus.Although, Tanzania approached the pandemic differently by keeping its door open to tourist while taking all necessary precautions, however, the lock down by other countries meant that the number of tourists from these countries who would on a regular basis visit Tanzania declined drastically. This has greatly adversely affected the tourism industry, which employs a lot of Tanzanians directly and indirectly.

In 2020, the year worse hit by COVID-19 pandemic the economy of Tanzania contracted by about 2.1 percent although fairing better than most, the leadership of  Her Excellency, Samia Suluhu Hassan decided that more needed to be done to revive various sectors. It is for this reason that she endorsed partaking in the "Royal Tour" a documentary that seeks to highlight Tanzania’s unique natural sceneries not only to promote tourism but also change the perception of some of Tanzania’s iconic landmarks. “The President will show visitors different tourism, investments, arts, and cultural attractions available in Tanzania,” reads part of the statement issued by the President’s Office of Tanzania. The Royal Tour program is intended to strengthen relationships, and to inspire tourism and travel cooperation between Tanzania, other nations, and organizations.

The Royal Tour, the iconic and precedent-setting series of global television specials, has been produced for the past two decades, as Heads of States become the ultimate tour guides, showing their country to travel guru Peter Greenberg. Royal Tour programs offer a unique platform to showcase a country and its people and to provide a better – and credible – understanding of its culture and people through the eyes of its leader. Past Royal Tours have been made with the head of states of Jordan, New Zealand, Jamaica, Peru, Mexico, Israel, Ecuador, Rwanda, and Poland.

The production crew includes 40 specialists – including helicopter and drone teams, dive and mountain repelling teams, motorcycle, bicycle, and kayak teams, to name a few. The program utilizes top-notch cinematography equipment filming over a full week, with a large post-production editing team in Los Angeles.

The Royal Tour programs air across the United States in prime time on public television (PBS), and have multiple repeat broadcasts over four to ten years beyond the initial broadcast, reaching millions of Americans. The program is then distributed internationally airing across Europe, Latin America, Africa, Asia/Pacific and The Middle East. The content is also distributed via numerous digital platforms, ranging from Amazon Prime to YouTube. The Tanzania Royal Tour is expected to air on PBS early in 2022.