By ETimes
HARARE- ZIMBABWE lowered its 2025 tourism growth forecast to 2.9% from 4.3% after international arrivals dropped 9% year-on-year in Q1 2025, Finance Minister Mthuli Ncube said Thursday.
“The downward revision is informed by lower performance of the sector in 2024 and Q1 2025,” Ncube in his midterm budget review.
The country’s tourism sector, a key foreign currency earner, had been recovering since pandemic-era restrictions eased.
However, the latest data suggests momentum is slowing, potentially delaying a return to 2018’s peak arrivals.
“International tourist arrivals recorded a decline of 9% to 336 369 arrivals during the first quarter of 2025 compared to the corresponding period last year.
“This development is likely to affect the anticipated recovery of arrivals to pre-Covid levels of 2 million,” Ncube said.
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