Tanzania recorded a total of two million tourists in 2019, ranking 79th in the world in absolute terms.
Without including the size of a country, such a ranking list may not be very meaningful. By putting the tourist numbers in relation to the population of Tanzania, the result is much more comparable picture: With 0.024 tourists per resident, Tanzania ranked 167th in the world. In Eastern Africa, it ranked 11th.
In 2019, Tanzania generated around 2.62 billion US dollars in the tourism sector alone. This corresponds to 3.9 percent of its the gross domestic product and approximately 17 percent of all international tourism receipts in Eastern Africa.
On average, each of the tourists arriving in 2019 spent about 1,453 US dollars.
Development of the tourism sector in Tanzania from 1995 to 2019
The following chart shows the number of tourist arrivals registered in Tanzania each year. Anyone who spends at least one night in the country but does not live there for more than 12 months is considered a tourist. Insofar as the survey included the purpose of the trip, business trips and other non-tourism travel purposes have already been excluded. The number of people passing through within the same day, and e.g., crew members of ships or flights are also not considered tourists in most countries. If the same person travels in and out more than once within the same year, each visit counts again.
The red line represents the average of all 16 countries in Eastern Africa.
Revenues from tourism
In 1995, tourism revenues amounted to 502.00 million USD, or about 9.6 percent of the gross national product. This corresponded to about 295,000 tourists at that time and roughly 1,702 USD per person. Within 24 years, the country's dependence on tourism has decreased substantially. Before the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, sales were $2.62 billion billion, 4.3 percent of gross national product. Thus, each visitor spent an average of $1,719 on their vacation in Tanzania.
Full figures for 2020, the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, are not currently available. However, national and international travel has been restricted worldwide, and some countries have even been closed off from the outside world altogether. Dramatic revenue losses are expected, with some countries experiencing losses of up to more than 80%.
All data for Tanzania in detail
Year
Number of tourists
Receipts
% of GNP
Receipts per tourist
2019
1.53 m
2.62 bn $
4.3 %
1,719 $
2018
1.51 m
2.47 bn $
4.3 %
1,637 $
2017
1.33 m
2.27 bn $
4.2 %
1,707 $
2016
1.28 m
2.15 bn $
4.3 %
1,674 $
2015
1.14 m
1.92 bn $
4.1 %
1,692 $
2014
1.14 m
2.05 bn $
4.1 %
1,796 $
2013
1.10 m
1.94 bn $
4.2 %
1,769 $
2012
1.08 m
1.75 bn $
4.4 %
1,629 $
2011
868,000
1.38 bn $
4.0 %
1,593 $
2010
783,000
1.28 bn $
4.0 %
1,633 $
2009
714,000
1.19 bn $
4.1 %
1,669 $
2008
770,000
1.29 bn $
4.6 %
1,679 $
2007
719,000
1.22 bn $
5.6 %
1,690 $
2006
644,000
986.00 m $
5.3 %
1,531 $
2005
613,000
835.00 m $
4.5 %
1,362 $
2004
583,000
762.00 m $
4.6 %
1,307 $
2003
576,000
654.00 m $
4.3 %
1,135 $
2002
575,000
639.00 m $
4.5 %
1,111 $
2001
525,000
626.00 m $
4.6 %
1,192 $
2000
501,000
381.00 m $
2.8 %
760 $
1999
627,000
467.00 m $
3.7 %
745 $
1998
482,000
404.00 m $
3.3 %
838 $
1997
360,000
343.00 m $
4.5 %
953 $
1996
326,000
473.00 m $
7.3 %
1,451 $
1995
295,000
502.00 m $
9.6 %
1,702 $
Our data on tourist numbers, revenues and expenditures are based on information from the World Tourism Organization. However, to ensure international comparability, the data for some years or countries were manually researched and corrected if they obviously included visitors without overnight stays. In these cases, the data were taken from the official communications of the respective national tourism authorities.
The World Tourism Organization additionally points out that in some countries, the number of tourists is only counted at airports, while in others they are also counted at border crossings or even hotels. A comprehensive and reliable indication is therefore hardly possible in any country.
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