Revenues from Tanzania’s tourism sector increased by 7.13% in 2018 compared to 2017 thanks to the increase in arrivals from foreign visitors, the government disclosed.
Revenues reached USD 2.43 billion in 2018, up from USD 2.19 billion in 2017, while tourist arrivals totaled 1.49 million compared with 1.33 million, Tanzania’s Prime Minister Kassim Majaliwa said in a presentation to parliament.
According to the latest available International Visitors’ Exit Survey Report of 2017 by the National Bureau of Statistics of Tanzania (NBS), tourism earnings were USD 2,13 billion in 2016 with 1.2 million arrivals.
The distribution of arrivals by region indicates that Europe continued to account for the largest share in 2017, followed by Asia and the Pacific, the Americas, Africa, and the Middle East.
Recently, Tanzania’s Ambassador to China, Mr. Mbelwa Kairuki, disclosed that the China National Travel Service Group Corporation (CTS) is planning to invest in Tanzania’s tourism sector by constructing hotels on the mainland and Zanzibar.
The direct and indirect contribution of tourism was 14% of Tanzania’s GDP in 2014 with USD 6.7 billion.
This is expected to rise by 6.6% annually in the next 10 years, according to the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC).
According to Tanzania’s National Five Year Development Plan for 2016/17 – 2020/21, the tourism sector share of the country’s GDP should be 18.3% by 2020, with a real growth rate of 6.2%.
