Zambia recorded 2,199,820 international tourist arrivals in 2024, following 1,392,153 arrivals in 2023 and 1,060,788 in 2022. The figures show a strong recovery in international travel, while national parks, museums, heritage sites and hotels provide a closer view of how tourism activity is distributed across the country.
Contents
- International tourist arrivals and recovery
- Zambia’s main tourism source markets
- How tourists enter Zambia
- National park visitation
- Museum and cultural tourism visitation
- Tourism outlook and hotel occupancy
International tourist arrivals and recovery
Zambia’s international arrival count increased from 1,060,788 in 2022 to 1,392,153 in 2023. That was a 31.2% increase between the two years. Arrivals then rose to 2,199,820 in 2024, a further 35.3% increase compared with 2023. These totals are reported by the Ministry of Tourism in its announcement on 2024 arrivals and the 2025 outlook: Ministry of Tourism, “Ministry of Tourism announces a record breaking of over 2 million international tourists’ arrivals for 2024 and projects further growth in 2025”.
The sequence is useful for understanding the pace of the rebound:
| Year | International tourist arrivals | Change reported for the period |
|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 1,060,788 | — |
| 2023 | 1,392,153 | 31.2% above 2022 |
| 2024 | 2,199,820 | 35.3% above 2023 |
| 2025 | More than 2.4 million projected | Ministry forecast |
The Ministry of Tourism projected more than 2.4 million international arrivals for 2025. This is a forecast rather than a recorded result, so it should not be read as a confirmed visitor total. For context, Zambia’s 2023 tourism plan had targeted 1.5 million international arrivals for that year. The 2023 target appears in the Ministry’s statement, “Government will continue to support efforts by various stakeholders in promoting tourism development”.
The wider visitor-site measure also moved upward. Visits to national parks, museums and heritage sites reached 530,110 in 2024, an increase of 9% from 2023. This measure covers visits to those attractions and is different from the international-arrival total, which counts tourists entering Zambia. The Ministry also reported K319.5 million in non-tax revenue generated by the Ministry of Tourism in 2024. Both figures are from the Ministry’s 2024 announcement linked above.
Zambia’s main tourism source markets
Zambia’s tourism demand is strongly regional. More than three-quarters of the country’s international tourists came from Africa in 2023, according to the Zambia Tourism Agency Annual Report 2023. The leading individual source markets were neighboring or nearby African countries, with Zimbabwe accounting for 36.7% of tourist arrivals, Tanzania 23.7%, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo 9.6%.
The 2023 share profile continued beyond the three largest markets. South Africa accounted for 5.6% of arrivals, Malawi 2.8%, Mozambique 2.6%, India 2.2%, the United Kingdom 1.8%, Botswana 1.8%, and Namibia 1.6%. These percentages describe the distribution of arrivals in 2023; they are not forecasts and should not be combined with the 2024 country counts as though they measured the same year.
The 2024 annual report gives arrival counts for Zambia’s top five African source markets. More than 1.4 million African tourists came from the top 10 African source markets in 2024. Zimbabwe supplied 543,487 arrivals, Tanzania supplied 296,917, the Democratic Republic of the Congo supplied 139,216, South Africa supplied 91,046, and Malawi supplied 49,875. These counts are reported in the Zambia Tourism Agency Annual Report 2024.
| Selected source market | 2023 share of arrivals | 2024 arrivals reported |
|---|---|---|
| Zimbabwe | 36.7% | 543,487 |
| Tanzania | 23.7% | 296,917 |
| Democratic Republic of the Congo | 9.6% | 139,216 |
| South Africa | 5.6% | 91,046 |
| Malawi | 2.8% | 49,875 |
The comparison table places a 2023 percentage beside a 2024 count for orientation only. It does not imply that the 2024 figures have the same shares as 2023. The consistent signal across both reporting periods is the importance of African markets, particularly Zimbabwe, Tanzania and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
How tourists enter Zambia
Road travel was the dominant arrival route in 2023. Road crossings accounted for 79% of Zambia’s tourist arrivals and brought 1,101,243 tourists into the country. Air travel accounted for the remaining 21%, with airports handling 290,910 tourist arrivals. The route shares and counts are from the Zambia Tourism Agency Annual Report 2023.
The report identifies Zambia’s four major international airports as the principal air gateways for tourists in 2023. Air arrivals increased 30.7% from 2022 to 2023, rising from 222,612 in 2022 to 290,910 in 2023. This growth occurred within a travel system still dominated by land borders, which fits the prominence of neighboring African source markets.
Kenneth Kaunda International Airport was the largest named air gateway in the report. It handled 228,625 arrivals in 2023, up 32.3% from 172,722 in 2022. Simon Mwansa Kapwepwe International Airport handled 29,845 arrivals in 2023, an increase of 31.2% from the previous year. The airport figures are tourist-arrival counts for the stated years, not total passenger movements of every type.
National park visitation
Zambia’s major national parks recorded 81,424 visitors in 2023, compared with 75,159 in 2022. The Zambia Tourism Agency reported an 8% increase in major national-park visitation in 2023. In 2024, national park visits reached 82,038, described in the Zambia Tourism Agency Annual Report 2024 as nearly 1% above 2023.
The park-level results in the 2023 annual report were mixed rather than uniformly upward. South Luangwa National Park recorded 28,302 visitors in 2023, up 3% from 27,590 in 2022. Kafue National Park recorded 16,722 visitors, up 6% from 15,842. Lusaka National Park recorded 13,047 visitors, a 129% increase from 5,686 in 2022.
Other major parks recorded declines in the same comparison. Mosi-o-Tunya National Park received 13,618 visitors in 2023, down 8% from 14,743 in 2022. Lower Zambezi National Park recorded 9,735 visitors, down 14% from 11,298. The national total therefore combines substantial growth at Lusaka National Park with smaller increases at South Luangwa and Kafue and declines at Mosi-o-Tunya and Lower Zambezi.
Museum and cultural tourism visitation
Zambian museums recorded 109,090 visitors in 2023, up 26% from 86,671 in 2022, according to the Zambia Tourism Agency Annual Report 2023. International museum visitors increased 84%, from 6,368 in 2022 to 11,727 in 2023. The international subset therefore grew faster than total museum visitation over the reported period.
Livingstone museums recorded the largest named 2023 total in the report, with 50,351 visitors, up 36% from 36,894 in 2022. Lusaka museums recorded 45,386 visitors, an 11% increase from 41,072. Together, those two locations accounted for the largest reported museum totals in 2023, although the figures are presented as location-level counts rather than a national ranking of every cultural site.
Several smaller or regional museum groups also posted strong percentage increases. Choma Museum recorded 4,101 visitors in 2023, up 92% from 2,131 in 2022. Copperbelt museums recorded 4,696 visitors, up 91% from 2,458. Moto Moto Museum recorded 4,556 visitors, up 11% from 4,116. The different base sizes matter: a large percentage increase can occur alongside a comparatively modest absolute visitor count.
Tourism outlook and hotel occupancy
Hotel occupancy provides a separate indicator of accommodation demand. Average hotel-room occupancy in Zambia was 55% in 2024, up from 51% in 2023. The Zambia Tourism Agency Annual Report 2024 also reported the improvement as 7.8% year over year.
The occupancy measure should be kept distinct from international tourist arrivals. Arrivals count tourists entering Zambia, while hotel-room occupancy reflects the share of available hotel rooms occupied during the reporting period. A visitor may use accommodation outside the hotel sample, stay with friends or relatives, or spend only part of a trip in a hotel. For that reason, the 55% occupancy figure is best read as a sector indicator alongside the arrival and attraction statistics.
Taken together, the available figures describe a tourism sector with rapid international-arrival growth through 2024, a heavy reliance on African source markets and land crossings, and continued but uneven activity across wildlife, cultural attractions and accommodation. The Ministry’s projection of more than 2.4 million arrivals for 2025 remains an estimate for that future period, while the recorded 2022–2024 results provide the historical baseline.