The Songwe International Airport in Tanzania has been renamed to Mbeya International airport in a bid to attract more foreign investors and tourists to the country.
According to dailynews.co.tz, the Mbeya Regional Consultative Committee (RCC) decided to change the name of Songwe International Airport to Mbeya International Airport, to reflect the region.
The decision was reached during the RCC meeting, following the advice by Mbeya Regional Commissioner, Mr Amos Makalla, who told the meeting that the current name of the airport does not reflect the name of Mbeya Region.
He said many people including investors, who visit Mbeya Region, thought that the airport was in Songwe Region, “Some of them even ask how long will it take to travel from Songwe airport to Mbeya Region”, he said.
Mr Makalla said the name Mbeya will help to advertise the region at international level and bring development and encourage tourism in the southern highland zone.
“We have good infrastructure including roads, communication structures, international airport and soon we will have a dry port,” he said adding that Mbeya is a better and beautiful place for investors.
Mr Godfrey Mwandulusya said it is the right time for the airport to use the name Mbeya as this will help tourists and investors to understand that if they travel they go direct to the destination point without any other expenses
