Zanzibar records more foreign tourist arrivals

Issa Yussuf in Zanzibar

ZANZIBAR: THE Office of Chief Government Statistician (OCGS)-Zanzibar has released a list of ...

international arrivals in the Island, which shows that last December, the number increased to 70,186 compared to 57,296 visitors in November, 2023.

Thanks to the Royal Tour film by President Dr Samia Suluhu Hassan, and improved environment for tourists including better roads for tourists’ attraction sites.

OCGS-Zanzibar Head of Services Provisions Division, Mr Bakar Khamis Kondo told journalists at the monthly briefing that 638,498 international tourists entered Zanzibar in the whole of last year (January to December), up from 548,503 visitors in 2022.

“Tourists from Europe continued to dominate the market by 72.3 per cent of the total visitors last month,” Mr Kondo said, adding that country wise, Italy leads by sending in more tourists by 12.3 per cent of all arrivals, followed by France and Poland.

He explained that most visitors use airplane to visit Zanzibar, where a total of 63,909 estimated as 90.8 per cent of the total visitors entered through the airport, and the rest by sea, ferries.

“As regards gender, male still dominate 64 per cent of all visitors, while the good news is that visitors or tourists from emerging markets now include Poland, India, Russia, Israel, China, and Ukraine increased in December last year,” he said.