Zimbabwe tourism recovered strongly across the periods covered here. Visitors from abroad rose from 1,012,259 in 2022 to 1,746,645 in 2024, while quarterly arrivals, tourism receipts and holiday travel also recorded substantial gains in the reported periods. The figures below bring together Zimbabwe’s visitor volumes, source regions, tourism earnings and travel patterns, with each measurement period kept explicit.
Reading the series by period matters: a quarterly arrival count, an annual migration total and a tourism-receipt figure answer different questions about the sector.
Contents
- Visitor arrivals in 2023
- Where Zimbabwe’s tourists came from in 2023
- Source regions in 2024
- Tourism receipts
- Why visitors came in Q1 2025
- Visitor totals and monthly movement
- Air, road and major entry points
Visitor arrivals in 2023
Zimbabwe’s quarterly tourist arrivals increased through 2023. The country recorded 271,975 arrivals in Q1, followed by 320,592 in Q2. Arrivals then reached 494,878 in Q3 and 515,336 in Q4. The Q3-to-Q4 increase was reported as 4.13%, taking the quarterly total above half a million for the final quarter of the year.
| Period | Tourist arrivals |
|---|---|
| Q1 2023 | 271,975 |
| Q2 2023 | 320,592 |
| Q3 2023 | 494,878 |
| Q4 2023 | 515,336 |
The 2023 quarterly pattern shows the largest reported increase between the second and third quarters, when arrivals moved from 320,592 to 494,878. The figures are quarterly tourist arrivals reported in the Quarterly Economic Review: Fourth Quarter 2023, rather than a separate estimate of annual unique tourists.
Where Zimbabwe’s tourists came from in 2023
Africa was the largest reported source region at both ends of 2023. African arrivals increased from 208,399 in Q1 to 344,818 in Q4. The Americas supplied 16,213 arrivals in Q1 and 40,837 in Q4, while Asia increased from 13,360 to 41,312 over the same two quarters.
Europe also grew across the reported endpoints, from 29,018 arrivals in Q1 to 74,252 in Q4. The Middle East supplied 1,490 arrivals in Q1 and 2,196 in Q4. Oceania supplied 3,495 visitors in Q1 and 11,921 in Q4.
| Source region | Q1 2023 | Q4 2023 |
|---|---|---|
| Africa | 208,399 | 344,818 |
| Americas | 16,213 | 40,837 |
| Asia | 13,360 | 41,312 |
| Europe | 29,018 | 74,252 |
| Middle East | 1,490 | 2,196 |
| Oceania | 3,495 | 11,921 |
These source-region figures describe arrivals in the first and fourth quarters, not the complete distribution for every quarter of 2023. They also retain the geographic groupings used in the Quarterly Economic Review: Fourth Quarter 2023.
Source regions in 2024
The available 2024 figures cover Q1 through Q3. Total tourist arrivals were 370,190 in Q1, 381,293 in Q2 and 450,922 in Q3. Africa remained the leading source region in each of these quarters, supplying 270,014 arrivals in Q1, 254,869 in Q2 and 292,210 in Q3.
The Americas supplied 23,310 tourists in Q1, 36,107 in Q2 and 41,191 in Q3. European arrivals were 47,064 in Q1, 54,872 in Q2 and 67,538 in Q3. The Q3 totals and regional figures come from the Quarterly Economic Review: Third Quarter 2024, while the Q1 and Q2 figures come from the Quarterly Economic Review: Second Quarter 2024.
| Period | Total arrivals | Africa | Americas | Europe |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Q1 2024 | 370,190 | 270,014 | 23,310 | 47,064 |
| Q2 2024 | 381,293 | 254,869 | 36,107 | 54,872 |
| Q3 2024 | 450,922 | 292,210 | 41,191 | 67,538 |
The available series therefore shows total arrivals rising in each reported quarter, from 370,190 in Q1 to 450,922 in Q3. Africa’s count dipped between Q1 and Q2 before increasing in Q3, while arrivals from both the Americas and Europe increased in each reported quarter.
Tourism receipts
Zimbabwe’s reported tourism receipts also increased in the periods covered. Receipts were US$272.26 million in Q3 2023 and US$428.42 million in Q4 2023. The reported quarter-to-quarter rise was 57%.
For the first half of 2024, receipts were US$241 million in Q1 and US$252 million in Q2. The comparable figures supplied for 2023 were US$178 million in Q1 and US$220 million in Q2. Combined Q1-Q2 receipts were therefore reported at US$493 million in 2024, compared with US$398 million in 2023.
| Receipt period | Tourism receipts |
|---|---|
| Q3 2023 | US$272.26 million |
| Q4 2023 | US$428.42 million |
| Q1 2024 | US$241 million |
| Q2 2024 | US$252 million |
| Q1-Q2 2024 | US$493 million |
The Q3 and Q4 2023 figures and the reported 57% increase are from the Quarterly Economic Review: Fourth Quarter 2023. The Q1-Q2 comparisons are from the Quarterly Economic Review: Second Quarter 2024. These are reported tourism-receipt totals for the stated periods; they should not be read as an estimate of average spending per visitor.
Why visitors came in Q1 2025
Zimbabwe received 356,661 visitors from abroad in Q1 2025. Holiday visitors accounted for 159,416 of them, or 47.4% of visitors from abroad. The First Quarter 2025 International Migration Report also recorded 104,556 in-transit visitors, 72,614 business visitors, 4,204 education visitors and 15,871 shopping visitors.
| Purpose | Visitors, Q1 2025 |
|---|---|
| Holiday | 159,416 |
| In transit | 104,556 |
| Business | 72,614 |
| Shopping | 15,871 |
| Education | 4,204 |
Holiday travel was reported to have increased 5%, from 151,964 visitors in Q1 2024 to 159,416 in Q1 2025. The 47.4% share and the visitor-purpose counts refer specifically to Q1 2025 visitors from abroad. They are not a forecast for the full year and do not establish that every visitor counted in the overall total was a tourist on holiday.
Visitor totals and monthly movement
The international migration series records visitors from abroad totaling 1,012,259 in 2022, 1,519,433 in 2023 and 1,746,645 in 2024. These annual totals provide a broader measure than the quarterly tourist-arrival series and use the terminology of the migration report.
For January through March 2024, arriving visitors from abroad totaled 404,979. In the first quarter of 2025, the monthly counts were 117,060 in January, 102,616 in February and 136,985 in March. Together, those monthly figures correspond to the Q1 2025 total of 356,661 visitors from abroad reported in the same publication.
| Measure | Period | Visitors from abroad |
|---|---|---|
| Annual total | 2022 | 1,012,259 |
| Annual total | 2023 | 1,519,433 |
| Annual total | 2024 | 1,746,645 |
| Quarterly total | Q1 2024 | 404,979 |
| Monthly total | January 2025 | 117,060 |
| Monthly total | February 2025 | 102,616 |
| Monthly total | March 2025 | 136,985 |
The annual totals, monthly counts and Q1 2025 visitor total are from the First Quarter 2025 International Migration Report. Because the report uses a visitor-from-abroad measure, comparisons with the Reserve Bank quarterly tourist-arrival figures should be made carefully: the labels and statistical coverage are not identical.
Air, road and major entry points
Road travel dominated arriving visitors from abroad in January-March 2025. The report recorded 271,482 road arrivals and 84,876 air arrivals during Q1 2025. Both counts are modes of arrival for the stated quarter, not visitor-purpose categories.
Victoria Falls recorded 59,866 arriving visitors by road in January-March 2025. This identifies the reported road-arrival count for that entry point and period; it does not represent all visitors to Victoria Falls by every mode and should not be added to the national total without further information about the report’s entry-point coverage.
| Arrival measure | January-March 2025 |
|---|---|
| Air arrivals | 84,876 |
| Road arrivals | 271,482 |
| Victoria Falls road arrivals | 59,866 |
Taken together, the available statistics show a tourism system with rising annual visitor totals through 2024, strong African market volumes, higher reported receipts in the compared periods and a Q1 2025 arrival profile led by holidays, transit and business travel. The scope remains period-specific: 2024 regional figures end at Q3, while the most detailed purpose and transport data cover Q1 2025.