DAR ES SALAAM, June 26 (NNN-DAILYNEWS) — TOURIST arrivals increased by 21.8 per cent to 1,938,875 in the year ending April, thanks to the continued recovery in the tourism industry from global economic shocks.
According to the Bank of Tanzania (BoT) latest monthly report, the recovery in the tourism and transport receipts contributed significantly to the increase in the travel receipts.
During the period under review, the service receipts increased to 6,617.8 million US dollars from 5,267 million US dollars recorded in the period ending April last year.
The BoT report said also that the external sector exhibited notable improvement with the easing of global supply chain constraints and stabilisation in the prices of essential commodities.
During the reference period, there was a marked reduction in the importation of goods and services, coupled with a significant increase in exports.
As a result, the current account deficit narrowed substantially to 2,456.6 million US dollars from 5,306.6 US dollars million recorded in the year ending April 2023.
The exports of goods and services increased by 8.2 per cent to 7,843.2 million US dollars compared to the year ending last April.
Main improvements were recorded in exports of gold, services, particularly travel (tourism), traditional goods, horticulture products, and oil seeds.
Traditional goods exports increased to 1,051.7 million US dollars in the year ending April up from 765.8 million US dollars in the corresponding period last year.
The increase was primarily driven by higher volumes of coffee, cashew nuts, and cotton. Improved tobacco exports were supported by both high volumes and prices.
The exports of non-traditional goods increased by 4.6 per cent to 6,363.3 million US dollars compared with 6,081.1 million US dollars in the corresponding period last year driven by gold, oil seeds and horticultural products.
Gold exports reached 3,133.5 million US dollars from 2,852.4 million US dollars in the year ending April with the improvement attributed mostly by price effect.
Exports of oil seeds increased by 67.4 per cent to 304.3 million US dollars. Horticultural product exports increased by 39.5 per cent to 411.3 million US dollars with much of it emanating from vegetables and fruits. — NNN-DAILYNEWS
