ZANZIBAR has experienced a notable increase in the number of visitors, with 82,750 tourists arriving on the islands last month, a 16.4 percent rise compared to the same period last year.

Fatma Hilal, the statistician in charge of tourism data for the Zanzibar Chief Government Statistician, said the rise reflects a growing interest in Zanzibar as a tourist destination.

At a press briefing over the weekend, she said that the number of visitors in February rose by over 11,600 compared to February 2024 when 71,095 tourists visited even with a slight decrease of 1.6 percent compared to January 2025 arrivals, with 84,069 visitors.

February’s performance remains strong, with most visitors coming from Europe, accounting for 77.1 percent of arrivals, while Africa followed as the second-largest source of visitors with 10.5 percent, she stated.

The Americas and Oceania contributed 6.4 percent and 0.6 percent, respectively, she said, highlighting that Italy led the way as the top source of visitors, with 10,977 visitors, followed by France with 9,340 visitors. Poland contributed 8,242 visitors, with other notable contributors being Germany and the Scandinavian countries, she elaborated.

Zanzibar’s airports saw the majority of arrivals, with 91.3 percent of tourists flying in, while the remaining 8.7 percent arrived by sea, she said, pointing at the gender distribution of visitors as fairly balanced, with 51.3 percent ladies and 48.7 percent men arriving.

Most visitors (99.3 percent) were in Zanzibar for leisure, while a small percentage visited for business or family circles, while Dr Estela Ngoma Hassan, an economist at the State University of Zanzibar (SUZA), said the increase in arrivals relates to favourable weather conditions.

Promotional efforts to further boost tourism were needed, she stated, whereas Mabadi Jaffar Ramadhani from the Zanzibar Tourism Commission asserted that efforts are underway to diversify tourism.

This would be conducted by promoting food and sports tourism as targeting a specific cohort of travel enthusiasts, he added.