How tourism has become Tanzania’s top forex earner, beating gold
Tourism has officially overtaken gold as Tanzania’s largest source of foreign exchange earnings in the country’s post-pandemic economic recovery, according to the Bank of Tanzania (BoT).
In its Monthly Economic Review for June 2025, the BoT reported that the tourism sector generated $3.92 billion in earnings during the year ending May 2025, up from $3.63 billion the previous year. This surge represents 55.1 percent of all service-related receipts, placing tourism just ahead of gold, which brought in $3.83 billion in the same period, the Citizen Tanzania reports.
“The increase in travel receipts was largely attributed to a rise in international tourist arrivals, which increased to 2,170,360 from 1,961,870 over the same period,” the central bank noted.
In response to this momentum, the government has enacted new measures to further support the sector, particularly through regulatory reforms.
One of the most notable changes came on July 8, 2025, when the BoT issued a formal exemption to tour operators from certain provisions of the Foreign Exchange Use Regulations of 2025.
This policy shift follows a May 2 public notice by the BoT, reaffirming that all domestic transactions must be conducted in Tanzanian shillings under Government Notice No. 198, a move aimed at curbing dollarisation and stabilising the national currency.
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