Tanzania Tourism Surges as Zanzibar Passes 917000 Visitors and Industry Pushes Higher Value Growth

Tanzania’s tourism growth is accelerating as Zanzibar passes 917,000 international visitors and industry leaders push for higher-value growth rather than simply chasing bigger arrival numbers. The archipelago welcomed 917,167 international visitors during 2025, representing growth of 24.5% compared with the previous year and placing the destination closer to the symbolic one-million-visitor mark. But Mohammed Hersi, Group Director of Operations at Pollmans Tours & Safaris and an advisory panel member for Essence of Africa, says Zanzibar’s success now brings a different challenge: protecting the island’s environment, infrastructure and character while ensuring tourism generates stronger economic value.

Zanzibar approaches the one-million visitor milestone

Zanzibar’s tourism expansion has been rapid.

Official statistics from the Office of the Chief Government Statistician showed strong international visitor growth throughout 2025. July alone brought 98,370 international visitors, up 44.2% from July 2024. European markets accounted for 64.4% of July’s arrivals.

The full-year figure subsequently reached 917,167 visitors, according to figures cited by Essence of Africa in its discussion with Hersi.

The figures demonstrate why Zanzibar has become one of East Africa’s most closely watched tourism destinations.

But Hersi argues that future success should not be measured simply by how quickly the island reaches one million or moves beyond it.

Tourism yield could matter more than visitor volume

Hersi’s central argument is that Zanzibar should increasingly focus on value per visitor rather than maximum visitor numbers.

He believes the destination is better positioned in the medium-to-upper-end tourism market than as a high-volume mass destination.

His reasoning centres on the physical limitations of an island economy.

Hotels require water and electricity. Visitors and employees generate waste. New accommodation requires land, transport and supporting infrastructure.

As more resorts are constructed, those requirements grow.

Hersi used a hypothetical 400-room resort to illustrate the issue. Once guests and workers are considered together, such a property can create daily infrastructure requirements associated with roughly 1,000 people.

The question for Zanzibar is therefore not simply whether enough hotel rooms can be constructed.

It is whether supporting infrastructure can expand without damaging the environment and communities that make the destination attractive in the first place.

Hersi says Zanzibar has not reached overtourism yet

Despite his concerns, Hersi does not currently classify Zanzibar as an overtourism destination.

That distinction is important.

In his assessment, overtourism emerges when visitor concentration becomes excessive, infrastructure struggles to cope and local communities increasingly regard tourism as a burden rather than a benefit.

He believes Zanzibar still has time to avoid that outcome.

However, he sees rapid construction as a warning signal requiring careful management.

The issue therefore concerns future carrying capacity rather than a claim that the island has already exceeded it.

Pemba highlights the need for careful development

Pemba plays an important role in the discussion because tourism development there remains much less intensive than on Zanzibar’s main island of Unguja.

Hersi supports a cautious approach to Pemba.

He argues that its smaller scale and distinctive local character could make it particularly vulnerable to poorly controlled development.

His broader principle is straightforward: investment and tourism growth do not have to require the disappearance of traditional lifestyles and landscapes.

He cites Kenya’s historic Lamu as an example of a destination where elements of longstanding local character and traditional practices remain visible despite tourism.

Tanzania is also putting increased emphasis on land-use planning nationally. The country’s Ministry of Lands has identified faster preparation of land-use plans and better management of strategic development areas among its priorities for 2026–27.

Maasai Mara provides a warning for East Africa

Hersi sees lessons for Zanzibar across the border in Kenya.

The Maasai Mara is one of Africa’s most recognised wildlife destinations. Yet its popularity creates intense seasonal pressure.

According to Hersi, visitor vehicles can become highly concentrated around individual wildlife sightings during July, August and September.

He described occasions where dozens of safari vehicles gather around a pride of lions or line up near river-crossing locations during the migration season.

This can affect two things that matter commercially: the wildlife itself and the quality of the visitor experience.

A safari marketed around solitude and natural behaviour can feel very different when large numbers of vehicles converge on the same animal.

The lesson for Zanzibar is that demand growth becomes harder to manage after congestion has already become established.

Higher prices alone may not control demand

Hersi also questions whether pricing alone can resolve seasonal concentration.

He noted that peak-season entry charges for international visitors to the Maasai Mara increased substantially, but argued that higher prices had not eliminated heavy concentrations of vehicles around popular wildlife sightings.

His preferred approach would use pricing more strategically across different seasons.

That could mean charging more when demand is exceptionally high while making quieter periods more attractive.

Hersi specifically argues that the Mara’s green season deserves greater attention.

The landscape is greener, visitor numbers can be lower and the wildlife experience does not disappear simply because the famous migration period has passed.

For travel companies, spreading demand across the calendar could create a commercially useful alternative to continually adding capacity during peak months.

Migration marketing created an unintended problem

The Great Migration is one of East Africa’s strongest tourism images.

Hersi nevertheless believes Kenya became too successful at associating the Maasai Mara with one particular seasonal spectacle.

He argues that international marketing around wildebeest river crossings encouraged travellers to think of the Mara primarily as a three-month destination.

Wildlife, however, does not operate according to tourism timetables.

A river crossing cannot be guaranteed simply because a traveller arrives during the conventional migration season.

That creates a marketing problem when expectations become too tightly attached to one unpredictable natural event.

Some destination management companies are therefore promoting a wider range of wildlife experiences and seasons rather than relying entirely on migration imagery.

Zoning could determine Zanzibar’s tourism future

Hersi places much of the responsibility for sustainable development on planning and enforcement.

Private businesses, communities and governments all have roles, but authorities ultimately determine where development can take place and what developers are permitted to build.

The planning questions include:

• how densely hotels and resorts can be developed;
• how much land should remain undeveloped;
• where tourism construction should be permitted;
• how tall buildings can become;
• whether water and power infrastructure can support new capacity;
• how waste from hotels and communities is managed;
• how development affects local communities and natural areas.

The challenge is to establish those rules before development pressure makes corrective action considerably more difficult.

Zanzibar and the Mara support the same regional tourism economy

The commercial importance extends beyond individual destinations.

Zanzibar, the Serengeti, Maasai Mara and Kenya’s coast frequently form parts of wider East African itineraries.

Travellers may combine a safari in Kenya with a beach holiday in Zanzibar or Diani. Others use Zanzibar alongside Tanzania’s mainland safari destinations.

Hersi argues that this relationship means deterioration in one flagship destination can weaken tourism elsewhere.

That gives tour operators a commercial reason to support sustainable destination management rather than viewing it purely as an environmental concern.

Travel companies can spread visitors more evenly

For tour operators, one practical response is product diversification.

Instead of selling East Africa overwhelmingly around a handful of peak periods, businesses can build demand for alternative seasons and higher-value experiences.

Possible approaches include:

• promoting Maasai Mara green-season safaris;
• encouraging longer rather than simply more crowded stays;
• combining Zanzibar with less congested mainland experiences;
• selling smaller-scale accommodation;
• promoting cultural and community experiences;
• building multi-season East African itineraries.

The objective is not necessarily to discourage tourism.

It is to generate stronger economic value while reducing excessive concentration at particular times and locations.

Conclusion: Tanzania tourism surges as Zanzibar passes 917000 visitors and industry pushes higher value growth

Tanzania’s tourism surge as Zanzibar passes 917,000 international visitors and industry leaders push higher-value growth marks an important turning point for one of East Africa’s leading island destinations. The 917,167 arrivals recorded in 2025 demonstrate Zanzibar’s powerful international appeal, while annual growth of 24.5% shows how quickly tourism demand is expanding.

Yet Mohammed Hersi’s argument is that success should not simply mean pursuing the largest possible arrival number. Zanzibar has finite land, water, infrastructure and environmental resources. Development decisions taken while the destination approaches one million annual visitors could therefore shape its tourism economy for decades.

The experience of the Maasai Mara adds another dimension. Concentrating demand into a short peak season can create crowding even when a destination remains attractive overall.

For travel businesses, the commercial opportunity lies in helping change that pattern. Green-season safaris, carefully managed island development, higher-value stays and broader East African itineraries can spread demand while protecting the experiences visitors are travelling to see.

If that balance is achieved, Tanzania can continue growing Zanzibar tourism without allowing visitor volume alone to become the measure of success.