Tanzania has huge potential for sport fishing tourism, which has become a lucrative business in many parts of the world.

An American investor, who has interests in sport fishing, told BusinessWeek that with its abundant water bodies, the country could rake in billions of shillings annually in the sub-sector.

Mr Ted Rademacher, who is the co-founder of Mara River Airboat Safari Ltd, cited the United States where sport fishing has an annual turnover of about $60 billion.

''Tanzania can organise fishing tournaments on Lake Victoria in Mwanza and Musoma with the US where the sport is huge business,'' he said, ''it can develop into a competitive niche.''

He said there was need for the country to develop new tourism products to boost the sector's performance and contribution to the national economy.

Tanzania's hosts less than 800,000 visitors annually, but authorities say several market development and promotion initiatives aimed at increasing the number to one million, are underway.

But the sector is still the leading earner of foreign currency and contributes 17 per cent to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

Mr Rademacher is involved in airboat tourism.

His company, the Mara River Airboat Safari Ltd operates in Mara, and is involved in taking tourists on exploration trips along the river's wetlands.

Although his line of business is a hugely unexplored and unknown area to many locals and foreigners, Mr Rademacher said plans were underway to develop it.

''We have already trained people to manage the business and we are currently in aggressive marketing,'' he said, adding that it cost $250,000 to establish.

The company has a 24-feet airboat that can carry up to 14 people at a time for trips that are priced between $75 and $200 depending on the duration of the journeys.

Some journeys are 45 minutes, while others can take up to three hours.