Abstract

For sub-Saharan African countries with fewe vident opportunities to diversify export earnings away from primary commodities, tourism has emerged as an option to contribute to economic growth. This study uses input–output analysis to estimate the economic impact of tourism and assesses its potential contribution for the Tanzanian economy. The results show that tourism has a significant impact on output and incomes, especially taking into account the strong inter-sector linkage effects, although this has not been translated into corresponding employment gains. The tourism sector also contributes to tax revenue and foreign exchange earnings. Overall, tourism is shown to make a significant economic contribution.