India should be among top 3 markets for Zanzibar by 2027

Zanzibar, an archipelago in the Indian Ocean which is part of Tanzania, is setting its sights on India as a key tourism market, with ambitious plans to make the country among the top three source markets by 2027. Arif Abbas, CEO, Zanzibar Commission for Tourism, tells India Outbound that efforts are underway to attract Indian travellers through strategic promotions and celebrity-driven campaigns.

- RANVIR NAYAR

Q How did Zanzibar perform in terms of tourism in 2024?

It was a very good year for Zanzibar in terms of tourism because we had a growth rate of about 15.7 pc in comparison to 2023. We have managed to enter new markets as well. The Czech Republic market has started to emerge in Zanzibar, but we have also seen that some markets from Asia, specifically the Indian market and the Chinese market, have also started to emerge.

Which country was the largest tourism market for Zanzibar last year and where did India rank?

Last year the biggest market we had was Italy. We had about 85,000 Italians in 2024, followed by Germany as we had 71,000 Germans followed by the Polish, British and the French. The performance from India was not very significant. It was not in the top 10 but from last year we have already started working with OTM, a travel show. We have also started a direct flight from Tanzania to Mumbai. It goes from Dar-es-Salaam to Mumbai but we want to channel it to start off in Dar-es-Salaam to come to Zanzibar and then to go to Mumbai.