Tourist hotels in East Africa are too expensive for tourists and business travelers who are required by regional states to undergo two-week mandatory Covid-19 quarantine at their own cost.
Foreign tourists, business and local travelers arriving at key East African airports are sent to designated tourist-class hotels and other such accommodation facilities that are too expensive for them to afford.
Groups of visitors, mostly foreign tourists raised their concern this week, seeking the government’s interventions to allocate them modest, affordable hotels during the 14-day isolation period.
Health authorities in Tanzania have listed some hotels for visitors and non-visitors arriving from countries suspected of having Covid-19, whose  accommodation rates run from US$55 to US$100 per night.
As for humanitarian requests, the visitors have requested authorities to find cheaper accommodation facilities to stay under the 14-day quarantine.
Tanzania has left its borders open, but strengthened controls and screening of foreigners and Tanzanians arriving from countries affected by Covid-19, with a mandatory isolation for two weeks at own cost.
Even though Tanzanian borders remain open for tourists and other travelers, 12 major regional and international airlines have cancelled their scheduled flight operations to the key tourist and business cities of Arusha and Moshi in Northern Tanzania and Dar es Salaam on the Indian Ocean coast.
On Tuesday this week, Health Minister Ummy Mwalimu had directed administrative authorities to identify low cost hotels for the people coming from countries with Covid-19 infections to afford the two week stay under quarantine.
