Photo taken on Sept. 2, 2009 shows local people were selling handicrafts in Zanzibar Stone Town in Tanzania. The Stone Town, which used to be a trading center in East Africa, is a seashore city with winding alleys, bustling bazaars, mosques and grand Arab houses. Most of the houses are well preserved and constructions built in the 19th century still can be seen in the town. The harmonious combination of different cultures attract lots of tourists every year. The Stone Town was listed by the UNESCO in 2000 as a world cultural heritage site. (Xinhua/Xu Suhui)

DAR ES SALAAM, June 13 (Xinhua) -- The Tanzania Tourist Board (TTB), the east African nation's tourism watchdog, said it has planned to conduct tourism road shows in four Chinese cities between June 19 and June 26.

Thomas Mihayo, chairman of the TTB Board of Directors, said on Wednesday the tourism road shows will be conducted by the TTB and other Tanzanian tourism stakeholders in Beijing, Shanghai, Nanjing and Changsha.

Mihayo told a news conference in the capital, Dar es Salaam, that the objective of the road shows is to promote the interest of Tanzania in the growing Chinese travel market.

"The aim of the tourism road shows is to attract more tourists from the Chinese travel market by showcasing our tourist attractions in China's four main cities," he said, adding that another aim is to attract more potential Chinese investors in the country.

Tourism is one of the largest foreign exchange earners of Tanzania, contributing an average of 2 billion U.S. dollars annually, which is equivalent to 25 percent of all exchange earnings, according to government data.

File photo shows African elephants having their meals at the Amboseli National Park of Kenya, July 16, 2014. The annual wildlife migration that kicked off normally in early July from Tanzania's Serengeti National Park to Kenya's Massai Mara National Reserve marked the start of tourism peak season. (Xinhua/Meng Chenguang)

A report released in June 2017 rated Tanzania's tourism industry as one of the fastest growing sectors in the country with figures showing a surge on tourist arrivals.

The report was jointly compiled by the Ministry of Natural Resources and Tourism, the Bank of Tanzania, the National Bureau of Statistics, the Immigration Department and the Zanzibar Commission for Tourism.