By BEATRICE MATERU

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The United Kingdom has overtaken Kenya to become Tanzania’s second largest source of visitors. The number of Kenyan tourists fell to 8.4 per cent in 2017 from 11.7 per cent the year before.

“Total visitors for 2017 were mainly from the US, accounting for 13.2 per cent, the second largest source being the UK with 9.5 per cent and Kenya at 8.4 per cent,” the 2017 International Visitors’ Exit Survey report showed.

The drop led to a 9.5 per cent decrease in the overall average expenditure per person per night.

According to the summary compiled by Tanzania’s Ministry of Natural Resources and Tourism, the “lower average spending recorded was associated with a significant number of low spending and visits from our neighbouring countries who mainly came to visit friends and relatives.”

Higher earnings

The Ministry’s permanent secretary, Major-Gen Gaudence Milanzi said the overall average cash spent per person continued to fall from $199 recorded in 2015, to $178 for 2016 and $161 last year.

The survey is conducted by a technical committee comprising experts from the Bank of Tanzania, National Bureau of Statistics, the Immigration Department and the Zanzibar Commission for Tourism and the ministry.

Despite Kenyan numbers dipping, there was a notable increase in the number of visitors from India, the Netherlands, and Switzerland,” said Dr Albina Chuwa, executive director of the bureau of statistics.

She noted that visitor numbers increased by 3.3 per cent to reach 1,327,143 in 2017 from 1,284,279 arrivals the year before.

This increased tourism earnings by 5.6 per cent from $2,131.57 million earned in 2016 to $2,250.3 million last year.

Tanzania is the only country in the world which has allocated more than 25 per cent of its total area to wildlife and other resources’ conservation.