Tanzania’s 2024 Visitor Exit Survey highlights the key role that tour operators, travel agents and “word-of-mouth” referrals continue to play in promoting tourism with more than 86% of travellers first hearing of the country through these channels.
International tourism arrivals in Tanzania exceeded a record 2.1 million in 2024 – approximately 40% higher than pre-COVID 2019. Tourism earnings grew by 15.7% to US$3.9 billion, driven by strong performances by overseas source markets such as the US, Italy and France.
“In 2024, Tanzania’s tourism sector continued to thrive, thanks to the ongoing recovery of the global economy and government promotional efforts,” said Hassan Abbas, Permanent Secretary for Tanzania’s Ministry of Natural Resources and Tourism. Securing a number of global awards has further benefitted the country, he added.
Based on a sample size of over 15 000 departing international visitors at eight major departure points, the survey obtained information about visitor demographics as well as travel experience and expenditure.
Just under 51% of visitors learnt about the destination through travel agents and tour operators (an increase of 9% from 2023) while 36% heard about the country through friends and relatives. Only 5.8% acquired their initial information online.
The survey findings indicate that traditional source markets continue to dominate. The US accounted for 15% of visits to mainland Tanzania, followed by Italy at 11.8% and France at 7.3%. Approximately 65% of survey respondents were first-time visitors.
Of the top 15 tourism source markets, visitors from China were found to spend the most, registering an average expenditure of US$492 per person per night. This was followed by Canada at US$346 per night and the US at US$345 per night.
The Ngorongoro Conservation Area was the most visited tourist attraction, featuring in 15.4% of visits, closely followed by the Serengeti at 14.8%. Wildlife remained the top tourism activity, accounting for 49.4% of visits, followed by beaches at 18.1%.
Visitors noted major areas in need of improvement include roads and other transport infrastructure (identified by 23.3% of respondents), quality of airport and hotel facilities (4.7%) and social services (2.4%).
Abbas pointed out that government has earmarked the improvement of road, rail and air transport infrastructure as one of its flagship development projects.
