Tourism Earned Tanzania $4.4 Billion Last Year. What Is Driving t

DAR ES SALAAM — Tanzania's tourism sector earned USD 4,410.6 million in 2025, the National Development Plan 2026/27 confirms, representing a 13.0 percent increase from USD 3,903.1 million in 2024. The result places Tanzania's tourism economy among the fastest-growing on the continent and establishes a revenue base that now contributes 27 to 28.6 percent of total foreign exchange earnings. What drove the $4.4 billion International visitor arrivals grew 7.1 percent from 2,141,895 in 2024 to 2,294,495 in 2025. Domestic visitor arrivals grew substantially faster at 13.1 percent, from 3,218,352 to 3,641,066, reflecting the domestic tourism promotion campaigns whose implementation the plan credits alongside income growth, expanding Air Tanzania connectivity, and improved infrastructure on the circuits connecting Dar es Salaam to Arusha, Zanzibar, and the western safari circuit. Air Tanzania's expansion to 33 service points by FY2025/26, up from 27 in FY2024/25, carrying 1,072,528 passengers in July 2025 to March 2026, up 22.38 percent, is the aviation infrastructure story that the tourism revenue growth reflects. New international routes and frequency increases on existing routes directly expand the catchment of international visitors Tanzania can attract without requiring connection through Nairobi, Addis Ababa, or other regional hubs. Tanzania's ranking 11th globally in international arrival growth versus 2019 pre-pandemic levels, at 51 percent growth, and 6th in Africa and the Middle East, confirms that the recovery from COVID-19's tourism disruption has not simply restored pre-pandemic levels but has established a new and higher baseline. The World Tourism Organisation's global recovery data shows Tanzania outperforming most comparable safari destinations on this metric. The domestic tourism story The growth of domestic arrivals from 3,218,352 to 3,641,066 is structurally significant in a way that international arrival growth is not. Domestic tourism revenue stays entirely within the Tanzanian economy, supports local hospitality businesses, and builds the community benefit from wildlife conservation and national park fees that is the sustainable development foundation of the wildlife tourism model. The plan's domestic tourism promotion campaigns, combined with the expansion of accessible tourism products and pricing, have contributed to a domestic visitor base that now significantly exceeds the international visitor count. At 3.6 million domestic visitors against 2.3 million international, Tanzania's tourism economy is less internationally dependent than Kenya's, whose Maasai Mara and coastal circuits have historically been more heavily skewed toward international arrivals. The 2030 targets The plan targets tourism's contribution to foreign exchange earnings rising from 27 percent to 35 percent by 2030, tourism's GDP contribution rising from 1.1 to 1.4 percent through accommodation services, and the Travel and Tourism Development Index ranking improving from 81st to 60th out of 119 countries. The four Tourism Special Economic Zones planned under the flagship programme architecture, combined with the beach and heritage tourism product development in Kilwa, Mafia Island, and Pangani, are the new product development investments designed to add capacity above the existing northern circuit and Zanzibar