Tanzania is stepping up its campaign to attract Chinese travellers, setting a target of 100,000 Chinese tourist arrivals annually by 2027, as the East African country seeks to capture a larger share of China’s huge outbound tourism market.
The target, announced in June 2026 by Tanzania’s Ambassador to China, Dr Suleiman Haji Suleiman, represents an increase from the roughly 82,000 Chinese tourists Tanzania currently receives. Suleiman said Tanzania is confident of reaching the target through more aggressive marketing in China and participation in major Chinese tourism exhibitions.
The target is significant because Tanzania is not starting from a low base. Chinese arrivals have already been rising rapidly.
Official figures presented by Tanzania’s tourism ministry show that Chinese tourist arrivals increased from 45,463 in 2023 to 71,140 in 2024, representing a 56.5 per cent increase in one year.
By 2025, the number had risen to about 82,000, according to Tanzania’s ambassador, putting the country within striking distance of the new 100,000 target.
Why China matters to Tanzania
For Tanzania, the Chinese market is attractive not simply because of the number of potential travellers, but because of the economic value attached to Chinese visitors.
Tanzania’s 2025 International Visitors’ Exit Survey shows that Chinese tourists recorded the highest average expenditure among the country’s top 15 tourism source markets, spending approximately US$551 per person per night, compared with US$491 in 2024.
That makes the 100,000-target more than an arrivals statistic.
Chinese tourists spend money on hotels, safari packages, restaurants, transport, tour guides, shopping, cultural experiences and other services. Consequently, successfully attracting another 18,000 or so visitors could create additional demand across Tanzania’s tourism value chain.
However, the US$551 figure is a per-person-per-night expenditure figure. It should not be multiplied directly by 100,000 to estimate total tourism revenue without knowing the tourists’ average length of stay.
Tanzania is taking its tourism campaign directly into China
One of the most interesting elements of Tanzania’s strategy is the use of Chinese media and entertainment to market the country.
The centrepiece is the promotional film “Amazing Tanzania,” which features Tanzanian President Samia Suluhu Hassan and Chinese actor Jin Dong.
The film was premiered in Beijing in May 2024 and subsequently launched in Dar es Salaam. Tanzania’s tourism ministry attributed part of the increase in Chinese arrivals to the campaign.
According to the latest statement from Ambassador Suleiman, Amazing Tanzania has attracted more than 200 million views across digital platforms in China.
There is also an earlier, separate figure from Tanzania’s tourism ministry: the ministry said the programme associated with the campaign, after appearing on China’s Hunan TV and social media platforms, reached approximately 1.2 billion viewers in China and neighbouring countries.
For publication, I would keep those figures separate rather than describing 1.2 billion as “Chinese tourists” or saying that 1.2 billion people watched the film itself. The 200-million figure refers to digital-platform views cited in the 2026 reporting, while the 1.2-billion figure refers to the broader programme reach reported by Tanzania’s tourism ministry.
“The Royal Tour” is part of the strategy too
Tanzania’s China strategy also builds on “The Royal Tour,” a tourism documentary used to showcase the country’s attractions to international audiences.
Together with Amazing Tanzania, these campaigns are designed to take Tanzania’s tourism message directly to potential Chinese travellers instead of waiting for international tourists to discover the destination through conventional advertising.
The approach appears to be producing results.
The increase from 45,463 Chinese visitors in 2023 to 71,140 in 2024 coincided with the country’s more aggressive China-focused promotion.
Tanzania has plenty to sell
The country’s tourism proposition is particularly strong because it can combine several experiences within one destination.
Chinese travellers can visit:
- Serengeti National Park for wildlife and the Great Migration
- Mount Kilimanjaro, Africa’s highest mountain
- Ngorongoro Conservation Area
- Zanzibar for beaches, marine tourism and culture
- Tarangire National Park
- Lake Manyara
- Cultural and community tourism attractions
- Adventure and nature-based tourism destinations
This combination allows Tanzania to market itself as more than a safari destination.
It can sell wildlife, adventure, beaches, culture and luxury tourism as one travel experience.
Air connectivity will be critical
But marketing alone will not get Tanzania to 100,000 Chinese visitors.
Air connectivity is one of the biggest practical questions.
The easier it is for Chinese travellers to reach Tanzania, the easier it becomes for tourism campaigns to translate into actual bookings.
Tanzania therefore has an important advantage in having established aviation links between China and the country, while its tourism authorities continue to push for stronger connectivity and partnerships with airlines and travel operators.
For the 100,000 target to be sustainable, Tanzania will need to ensure that increased demand is matched by sufficient flight capacity, competitive fares and convenient connections to destinations such as Zanzibar and the northern safari circuit.
Tanzania is also trying to become more “China-ready”
Attracting Chinese visitors is not only about getting them onto an aircraft.
The destination itself needs to be prepared for the market.
That means:
Chinese-language information.
Tour guides who understand Chinese travellers.
Hotels capable of serving Chinese guests.
Payment systems that are convenient for Chinese visitors.
Chinese-language digital marketing.
Travel agencies and tour operators with strong relationships in China.
Tour packages designed around Chinese travel preferences.
This is an important lesson from Tanzania’s approach: China-ready tourism requires more than translating a brochure into Mandarin.
The bigger economic opportunity
Tanzania’s wider tourism sector is already a major source of foreign exchange.
The country’s tourism earnings reached approximately US$4.41 billion in 2025, according to reporting based on Tanzania’s tourism statistics, while international arrivals also remained strong.
The Chinese market therefore represents another avenue for Tanzania to diversify its tourism base.
And because Chinese tourists are relatively high-spending visitors in Tanzania, increasing their numbers could have effects well beyond hotels and safari companies.
It can support:
- airlines and airports;
- restaurants;
- local transport;
- tour operators;
- hotels and lodges;
- tour guides;
- handicraft producers;
- entertainment businesses;
- cultural attractions;
- photographers and content creators;
- travel agencies;
- small businesses around tourism destinations.
That makes the Chinese tourism push a business story as much as a travel story.
Tanzania’s target is ambitious — but not unrealistic
To move from approximately 82,000 visitors to 100,000, Tanzania needs roughly 18,000 additional Chinese tourists.
That’s an increase of about 22 per cent from the reported current level.
Compared with the 56.5 per cent increase recorded between 2023 and 2024, the required growth rate is not extraordinary.
The bigger challenge is maintaining momentum.
A single successful promotional campaign can generate awareness, but sustained tourism growth requires air access, competitive pricing, quality accommodation, reliable services and repeat visitors.
And this is where the Tanzania story becomes an Africa-China story
Tanzania’s move has implications far beyond its borders.
African countries are increasingly competing for Chinese travellers, and Tanzania’s strategy demonstrates one possible model: go directly into the Chinese market, build awareness through Chinese media, create partnerships with travel companies and make the destination easier for Chinese visitors to access.
For countries such as Nigeria, Kenya, Ghana, Rwanda, South Africa and others, the question is becoming increasingly relevant:
Who is going to capture the next wave of Chinese tourism spending?
Tanzania has already identified its target.
100,000 Chinese tourists every year by 2027.
And the country’s strategy suggests that winning Chinese travellers may require African destinations to stop marketing themselves generically to “international tourists” and start developing specific China-facing tourism products and campaigns.
The bigger lesson
Tanzania’s ambition is not simply about bringing another 18,000 Chinese visitors into the country.
It is about turning China’s enormous outbound tourism market into a source of foreign exchange, private-sector growth, jobs and stronger people-to-people ties.
The country’s rapid increase in Chinese arrivals — from 45,463 in 2023 to 71,140 in 2024 and about 82,000 more recently — shows that the strategy has gained traction.
Now Tanzania is betting that better marketing, stronger China-facing partnerships and continued investment in its tourism ecosystem can take it across the 100,000 mark by 2027.
For the rest of Africa, Tanzania’s campaign offers a simple but important message: China’s tourism market is not just a pool of visitors. It is an economic opportunity — and countries that prepare for it early may capture the biggest share.
