- Tanzania tourism surpasses 5 million visitor numbers target.
- Data shows the number of Chinese tourists to the East African nation is increasing annually.
- Film featuring top Chinese actor has big impact in Tanzania tourism.
Tourism in Tanzania is growing faster than anticipated with the country having hosted 5.36 million tourists in 2024, a figure higher than the targeted five million tourists by 2025. Tanzania’s Minister for Natural Resources and Tourism, Pindi Chana told a stakeholder’s meeting earlier in the week that the 5 million plus tourists racked in 4 billion U.S. dollars in revenue last year.
Notably, of the said tourists, 3.22 million were domestic while 2.14 million were drawn from international source markets, showing a significant increase in domestic tourism. “These efforts have effectively showcased Tanzania’s breathtaking landscapes and rich cultural heritage, positioning the nation as a desirable travel destination,” said Chana in a statement highlighting the significance of film shows featuring Chinese actors being held in Tanzania.
The forum also served as a platform for discussing future strategies, with Chana emphasizing the necessity of continued collaboration among stakeholders to enhance Tanzania’s tourism offerings. Visitor number in Tanzania has been growing annually post the Covid-19 global pandemic. Last year, the then Minister of Natural Resources and Tourism, Angellah Kairuki placed the number of tourists in 2023 at 1,808,205 up from 1,454,920 in 2022, that was an increase of 24.3 percent.
The increase in number of tourists visiting Tanzania translates to a rise in revenue from $2.5 billion in 2022 to $3.4 billion in 2023, and $4 billion last year.
As of last year, Tanzania ranked second in Africa and 12th in the world in the UN’s Tourism best-performing destinations (2023). Also worth noting is the number of Chinese tourists visiting Tanzania has been increasing annually.
According to the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Natural Resources and Tourism, some 54,444 Chinese tourists visited Tanzania between January and September of 2024, that’s was more than the number of tourist arrivals for the entire 2023. “The Chinese tourist market is responding remarkably,” Abbasi exclaimed at a news conference on the eve of a ‘Tanzania and China, Tourism and Culture Alliance’ event last year.
The increase of Chinese tourists visiting Tanzania has indeed been remarkable in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic; in 2018, before the outbreak, 32,000 Chinese tourists visited Tanzania, that number rose to 44,038 as of 2023.
Tanzania has conducted several initiatives in a bid to capture the Chinese tourism market including holding a tourism roadshow across major Chinese cities and the launch of the Amazing Tanzania documentary in Beijing last year. The documentary film features Tanzania’s President Samia Suluhu Hassan, Zanzibar’s President Hussein Ali Mwinyi, and prominent Chinese actor Jin Dong and is accredited to having attracted more tourists from China to Tanzania.
Most visited destinations in Tanzania
The most visited Tanzanian destinations remain Serengeti National Park that gets over 300,000 visitors, Tarangire exceeds 241,741 and Mt Kilimanjaro follows with an annual rate of 40,000 visitors. The Ngorongoro Conservation Area remains the most visited site attracting well over 515,000 visitors every year.
In a recent REPOA report (July 2024) it is noted that; “Synergies between tourism and other sectors including food and accommodation, entertainment and hospitality, transportation, construction, ICT, and finance offer great potential to bring about the much-desired economic structural transformation.”
The report points out that Tanzania receives most of her international visitors from the European Union (France, German, Italy), the US and the United Kingdom. And the country also gets many visitors from within Africa (Kenya, Burundi, Zambia, Malawi, Rwanda).
More than half the visitors (59 per cent) travel into the country for leisure and holiday, others visit family and friends (14.1 per cent), while others travel for business reasons (12.1 per cent), or to attend meetings and conferences (6.1%), details the report. “The main purpose of visit varies by visitor’s country of origin. Those arriving from African countries often travel to visit family and friends, or for business purposes. Those travelling from Europe, the US and the UK visit Tanzania mainly for leisure and holiday,” the report points out.
The country is also attracting foreign investment in the tourism sector with the most recent investment coming from the Four Seasons world renowned five star hotel brand. In addition to its first property the Fours Seasons Serengeti, Four Seasons, the world’s leading luxury hospitality company, and global investment firm Albwardy Investment have partnered to open a luxury resort in Zanzibar.
Set along the white sand beaches and blue waters of Pongwe, when opened, Four Seasons Resort Zanzibar will create a distinct resort experience for guests looking to explore Zanzibar, or for those who wish to complement the adventure of a safari with the relaxation of an island retreat.
“It’s an honour to partner with Albwardy Investment on this exceptional project in Zanzibar. Together, our shared vision for creating best-in-class experiences will soon introduce a new Four Seasons resort to a destination that luxury travelers already know and love,” said Bart Carnahan, President, Global Business Development, Portfolio Management and Residential, Four Seasons.
“With this incredible island’s dynamic character and beauty on display, we look forward to welcoming guests as they discover a new side of Tanzania alongside the commitment to genuine care and service of Four Seasons,” Carnahan added.
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China infrastructure investment boosting Tanzania tourism
In a recent interview with Xinhua, the Principal Secretary for Zanzibar’s Ministry of Tourism and Heritage, Aboud Suleiman Jumbe, said China’s support to Zanzibar under the Belt and Road Initiative has facilitated infrastructure construction, and as a result, served to improve the living conditions of Zanzibaris.
“This is not happening out of the blue …it is part of a strategic bilateral process to build strong relations between Tanzania and China, a political process that has paved the way for economic cooperation, technical collaboration, and many other things,” Jumbe said.
He said China’s infrastructure investment under the Belt and Road Initiative has among other things seen the Chinese constructed Terminal 3 of Zanzibar’s Abeid Amani Karume International Airport, serve as the main gateway for international tourist arrivals.
He also cited Nyerere Road, which he described as “the artery linking the airport to Stone Town,” this road has also been renovated and upgraded by Chinese constructors. In the interim, there are ongoing construction works including upgrade of some 100-km roads in the core city area and construction of at least two flyovers.
According to the Office of the Chief Government Statistician Zanzibar (OCGS) tourism accounts for 27 percent of Zanzibar’s Gross Domestic Product and 80 per cent of its foreign exchange earnings.
“With the greatest contribution from China, Zanzibar is now transforming its critical infrastructure for the tourism industry,” Jumbe told media, “We are now receiving more arrivals per year for the second year in a row,” he noted.
Nonetheless, he did outline several areas in which he said, Zanzibar and China can further deepen their cooperative relations, such as conference and exhibition tourism, health tourism, educational tourism, sports tourism and others.
“Most of all, we need China’s state-of-the-art engineering model to help us rebuild and repair our heritage structures in line with UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) preservation standards,” he said.
“China has so many ancient heritage sites, many of which are not on the UNESCO list, but the Chinese government is preserving them very well and we can learn from them,” he went on to note.
He pointed out that in Zanzibar, more than 73 percent of international tourists come from European countries like Italy, France, and Germany, which he said is an indication of over-dependence on Europe for tourism and hence the need to diversify tourist arrivals, and in this regard, China is a key market that Tanzania is looking to tap into.
“We want to diversify our international arrivals and open up to countries like China, Singapore, and India,” he said.
