Zimbabwe Courts US Tourists
Tourist arrivals from the United States have jumped from under 19,000 in 2021 to nearly 110,000 in 2025, cementing America’s status as Zimbabwe’s top overseas market. The country is now stepping up its charm offensive on the road.
The United States has confirmed its place as Zimbabwe’s most important source of overseas visitors, with new figures showing a dramatic rise in American arrivals over the past four years.
Tourist numbers from the US climbed from 18,756 in 2021 to 109,959 in 2025, according to figures released by the Zimbabwe Tourism Authority (ZTA).
The increase, a nearly sixfold rise in four years, has prompted Zimbabwe to deepen its engagement with the North American travel trade.
That push is now under way.
Zimbabwe is taking part in the Africa’s Eden Roadshow, a touring programme of trade events running across the United States and Canada, with stops including Atlanta, Chicago, Washington, New York, San Francisco and Denver in the US, and Toronto and Vancouver in Canada.
The tour began in Atlanta, giving Zimbabwean tourism officials direct access to American travel advisors who sell holidays to Africa.
A show of government commitment
Representing Tourism and Hospitality Industry Minister Barbara Rwodzi, ZTA chief executive Dr George Manyaya used the Atlanta leg to set out the government’s tourism priorities.
These include sustainable tourism development, easier access to the country for travellers, fresh investment in the sector, and closer cooperation between government and private operators, all under the “Experience Zimbabwe” destination brand.
Dr Manyaya took up the ZTA’s top job earlier this year.
He was appointed with effect from 1 February 2026, bringing experience spanning aviation, transport, telecommunications, energy, mining, banking and the United Nations system, having previously held senior marketing and communications roles at ZESA Holdings, Zimbabwe’s power utility.
In Atlanta, he urged American travel advisors to look beyond the familiar and discover what he called “a world of wonders”, pointing to Zimbabwe’s mix of wildlife, heritage and hospitality as reasons for advisors to build more Zimbabwean holidays into their client itineraries.
Beyond Victoria Falls: advisors want new itineraries
The Atlanta event produced firm results.
Twelve travel advisors, including specialists who focus exclusively on African destinations, said they wanted to expand how much they sell Zimbabwe to their clients.
Victoria Falls remains the country’s headline attraction, and Hwange and Mana Pools its best-known national parks for safari holidays. But advisors at the roadshow said they were looking for something different: itineraries built around the Eastern Highlands, Great Zimbabwe, Matobo and Gonarezhou.
That shift matters. Great Zimbabwe, the stone-walled ruins near Masvingo that gave the country its name, is one of Africa’s most significant archaeological sites.
Matobo National Park, in Matabeleland South, is known for its granite rock formations, ancient San rock art and dense population of black and white rhino.
Gonarezhou, in the country’s south-east, is one of Zimbabwe’s largest and least-visited parks, while the Eastern Highlands offer cool, mountainous scenery quite unlike the low-lying bushveld most visitors associate with the country.
Advisors’ interest in these areas points to growing demand among American travellers for quieter, more immersive trips away from the busiest safari circuits.
One operator, Tri Sij Travel, went further, confirming it would begin actively selling Zimbabwe as a destination, a sign of the roadshow translating interest into firm commercial commitments.
What happens next
The Atlanta leg ended with several concrete follow-ups.
Organisers agreed to run further destination training for American advisors, to strengthen working relationships between US-based agents and Zimbabwean destination management companies, and to invite advisors to Zimbabwe’s own flagship trade event, the Sanganai/Hlanganani Dzimbahwe World Tourism Expo, to be held in Masvingo.
For Zimbabwe’s tourism authorities, the pitch is straightforward. The US is already the country’s single biggest overseas market, and officials believe there is room to grow it further by giving American advisors more reasons and more product to sell.
Whether that translates into another jump in arrivals will become clearer over the next reporting period, but the direction of travel, for now, points firmly upward.