Vumbi was back with the driver and the bus early in the morning. I had to rush my breakfast because I didn’t get to the restaurant on time. We did the rounds again, picking others from Sea Cliff Court and Double Tree by Hilton before heading to the Julius Nyerere International Convention Centre (JNICC) for the opening ceremony of the Swahili International Tourism Expo.
The exhibition stands were already opened as people arrived the venue. The Vice President of Tanzania, Her Excellency, Samia Hassan Suluhu arrived soon and did a quick tour of the stands with officials of the TTB, before the commencement of the Opening Ceremony. An award ceremony followed after the speeches.
Exhibition was in full swing, with most of the spaces all booked, while a crowd of buyers and visitors came around. There was a lot of networking ongoing, as people went about meeting their appointments.
Later in the evening, we were ferried to the Serena Hotel for the Welcome cocktail. There was enough to drink and finger food as we were treated to musical and cultural performances. Afterwards, several people came out to take pictures with the snake used during the cultural performance.
Once it clocked 21:00hrs, Vumbi came looking for each one of us and we made our way to the waiting bus and left for the hotels.
