Tanzania to host the 2026 World Travel Awards Grand Finale, attracting nearly 200 countries
Nearly 200 countries will be jetting to Dar-es-Salaam when Tanzania gets to host the 33rd World Travel Awards’ global event in December 2026.
Tanzania has just been nominated to host the grand finale ceremony for the World Travel Awards in 2026.
The President of World Travel Awards (WTA) Graham Cooke revealed that Tanzania, which has just won the top continental Safari Category, has impressed the organizers to an extent of selecting the East African Country to host the global event in 2026.
Speaking in Dar-es-salaam at the climax of the World Travel Awards Gala Ceremony for Africa and the Indian Ocean, Cooke stated that Tanzania will therefore host more than 197 countries that will be attending the global event next year.
Tanzania was officially named the 2025 Leading Destination in Africa, as far as travel and tourism is concerned.
This is the third time that the country has won the World Travel Awards’ top continental category.
The Tanzania Tourist Board (TTB), on the other hand, was also named the leading Tourist Board in Africa for the fourth time in a row.
Tanzania managed to beat 13 other countries that were nominated for Africa’s Leading Destination 2025 in the World Travel Awards whose winning African entries were announced during the Gala Ceremony held in Dar-es-salaam City on the 28th of June 2025.
Other nominees of the Africa’s Leading Destination category in the WTA 2024 include Botswana, Egypt, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Morocco, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, Rwanda, South Africa, Uganda and Zambia.
This is the third time that Tanzania gets crowned with the Africa’s Leading Destination title, having won in the same category during the World Travel Award in the year 2021, 2024 and now 2025.
For two consecutive years; 2022 and 2023, Kenya won the top safari slot in the WTA category.
Kenya also won in previous years of 2020 and 2019 taking over from South Africa which has been winning for more than 15 times. Other countries that managed to win the top position in the WTA category include Rwanda and Morocco.
In both 2024 and 2025 Tanzania returned to the top slot as the Leading Travel Destination in Africa, towing along the Zanzibar Islands which was named the Leading Festival and Event Destination.
Several National Parks in Tanzania, including those debuting for the first time, have also won the 2025 World Travel Awards trophies for African entries, including Serengeti, Tarangire, Ngorongoro, Ruaha, Kitulo and Mount Kilimanjaro.
The Julius Kambarage Nyerere International also managed to win Africa’s best airport title for the first time this year, signalling improvement in the country’s travel and hospitality industry.
Still, fingers are crossed for the global results of voting expected to come up in December 2025.
Now which country will emerge the leading Tourist Destination in the World 2025? This top global title will be announced during the WTA final gala in December. But Tanzania did win this top world slot in 2024.