ZANZIBAR: THE Office of Chief Government Statistician (OCGS) in Zanzibar has revealed that tourist arrivals to the Isles increased by 4.2 per cent in one month. Statistics indicate that there were 57,296 tourists in November 2023, compared to 54,961 tourists in October.

Mr Bakar Khamis Kondo from OCGS-Zanzibar stated that tourists from Europe continue to dominate the Zanzibar market, accounting for 74.2 per cent of all tourists last month.

"In terms of countries, Italy dominated the tourism market, accounting for 11.5 per cent of all visitors in November 2023, followed by Poland at 10.7 per cent, while New Zealand recorded less than one per cent," he explained.

The statistician noted that 49,414 visitors, equivalent to 86.2 per cent, entered Zanzibar through the airport. Out of those, a total of 47,619 visitors arrived in Zanzibar using international flights, 1,795 arrived by domestic flights, and the remaining 7,882 entered through the seaport.

Of those, 1,561 visitors came by cruise ship and 6,321 by sea ferries from Mainland Tanzania. Mr Kondo stated at the press conference that Zanzibar received a total of 678,570 visitors from January to November 2023, which is an 18.0 per cent increase compared to the same months in 2022.

Zanzibar is now working hard to reach the target of one million tourists by 2025, after surpassing the previous target of half a million tourists before the year. Tourists from emerging markets such as Poland, India, Russia, Israel, China and Ukraine have been increasing.