Tanzania tourists’ arrivals jump by 50 percent in 2024. Country Leads in Africa beating Cabo Verde and Morocco

By Marc Nkwame

Tanzania, Cabo Verde, Morocco and Kenya are the four African countries that have recorded significant improvement in their respective tourism arrivals in the first seven months of 2024.

On the other hand, the entire African continent saw an increase of 7 percent more arrivals in between January and July 2024.

Tanzania and Kenya are the only Eastern African countries doing better in the travel industry.

On average, Tanzania receives 1.5 million tourists in a year. The country’s leading tourist destinations include Mount Kilimanjaro, Serengeti National Park and the Ngorongoro Crater, with Zanzibar Islands tagging along.

Tanzania leads the pack with 49 percent increase in tourism traffic, followed by Cabo Verde with 34 percent and Morocco recording 32 percent as well as Kenya, the only other East African country which saw an increase of 10 percent.

UNWTO

All the four countries exceeded their 2019 numbers in the first six to seven months of 2024, according to the United Nations World Tourism Barometer report of September 2024.

It is being expected that the industry will see a 34 percent global average recovery in 2025.

There is slight tourism industry recovery in the post pandemic travel trend in Africa where data indicates that the continent welcomed 7 percent more tourists in the first seven months of 2024 than what was recorded during the same period of 2019.

But it is the Northern Part of the continent which seems to be doing better.

The United Nations World Tourism Barometer shows that North Africa saw the strongest Sub-Regional performance with 21 percent more international arrivals in the first seven months of 2024 than before the pandemic.

The North African Region beats Central America which recorded 19 percent increase, the Caribbean and Southern and Mediterranean Europe, both with 9 percent boost.

An estimated 790 million tourists travelled internationally in the first seven months of 2024, which is about 11 percent more than in 2023, though 4 percent less than in 2019.

Other experts speaking in Arusha, Tanzania however expressed concern that many Sub-Saharan African countries have been cooking their tourism data, making it difficult to take them seriously in recording their performances.

However, the UNWTO indicated that results from their barometer were driven by strong demand across most regions, the ongoing recovery of Asia Pacific destinations, increased air connectivity and visa facilitation.

The Middle East remained the strongest-growing region, with international arrivals climbing 26 percent above 2019 levels.

Europe and the Americas recovered 96 percent and 97 percent of their pre-pandemic arrival numbers during the first seven months of 2024, while Asia and the Pacific recorded 82 percent of 2019 levels.

Revised data for 2023 shows export revenues from international tourism reaching USD 1.8 trillion (including receipts and passenger transport), virtually the same as before the pandemic (-1% in real terms compared to 2019).

Tourism direct GDP also recovered pre-pandemic levels in 2023, reaching an estimated USD 3.4 trillion, equivalent to 3 percent of global GDP.

The UN Tourism Confidence Index shows positive expectations for the last part of the year, at 120 points for September-December 2024, though below the prospects for May-August, which stood at 130 (on a scale of 0 to 200, where 100 reflects equal expected performance).

The UN Panel of Tourism Experts pointed to inflation in travel and tourism, namely high transport and accommodation prices, as the main challenge the tourism sector is currently facing.