Dodoma — TANZANIA has recorded an increase of 48.8 per cent of tourists in a period between January and February this year compared to the number of visitors recorded in the same period in 2022.
National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) acting Director of Economic Statistics, Daniel Msolwa said that between January and February this year, the country received 290,896 tourists, equivalent to 48.8 per cent compared to 195,483 visitors who entered the country last year.
He said that of all the tourists, a total of 114,169 visitors, equivalent to 32 per cent, entered the country through Zanzibar.
Speaking in Dodoma yesterday, Mr Msolwa said that the ever-increasing number of international visitors is attributed to various reasons, including the lifting of Covid-19 lockdown by most countries and the continued government’s effort to promote tourism attractions within and outside the country, including through the Royal Tour documentary.
Msolwa said that the 263,934 international visitors, equivalent to 90.7 per cent visited Tanzania for leisure and holidays while 16,307 visitors, equivalent to 5.6 per cent came to visit their friends and relatives.
“Others were visitors in transit to other countries who were 6,035, equivalent to 2.1 per cent and 3, 418 business visitors, equivalent to 1.2 per cent” he said.
He noted that the top six sources of Tanzania tourism market from outside Africa were France with the highest number of 25,837 followed by Italy (18,556), United States of America (16,567), Germany (15,705), Poland (12,369) and United Kingdom (10,657).
“The top six source markets from Africa were Kenya (29,615), Burundi (16,832), Rwanda (7,627), Malawi (6,563) Uganda (6,511) and South Africa (5,196)”, he said.
In addition, Msolwa said that in 2021, Tanzania received 922,692 tourists who brought the nation an income of 3,177.7 US dollars while in 2022 a total of 1,454,920 tourists entered the country and brought in the country a total of 4,776.5 million US dollars.
He said that the government has continued to promote the country’s tourist attractions as well as improve infrastructure to ensure that the number of tourists reaches 5 million come 2025.
“The government continues to ensure that it markets all attractions but also improve infrastructure such as roads, digital financial services in all tourist attractions and many other things to ensure we reach the goal of five million tourists in 2025,” said Msolwa.
Last year, the tourism sector received a big boost from President Samia Suluhu Hassan following her decision to feature in the Tanzania Royal Tour documentary.
This was the first time in Tanzania’s history the Head of State played such a role in a film, as part of efforts to revive the tourism industry that was adversely affected by the Covid-19 pandemic.
The initial launch of the documentary was done in New York on April 18, 2022 followed by its premiering in Los Angeles on April 21. The documentary was also filmed in Dar es Salaam on April 28 before Zanzibar did the same.
The documentary has had a ripple effect in the tourism sector which earns the country about 2 billion US dollars (about 4.6tri/-) per annum, with tourists coming in droves from all over the world to sample Tanzania’s tourist attractions.