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The country registered a total of 603 412 arrivals during the first quarter of the year with 382 260 residents returning from abroad compared to 168 549 returning in the quarter ending March 2022, the Zimbabwe National Statistics Agency (Zimstat) report reveals.
The majority of visitors who used air came through Robert Gabriel Mugabe International Airport (27 323) followed by Victoria Falls Airport (15103) and Joshua Mqabuko Nkomo International Airport (6 603).
Presenting the Quarterly International Migration Statistics Report, Zimstat Director-General, Mr Taguma Mahonde said international migration statistics play a vital role in providing statistics needed in the estimation of population growth, indicators on the tourism sector such as arrivals and also to quantify international migration flows.
“The statistics also serve as a monitoring tool by which changes in the tourism industry can be tracked over time,” he noted.
According to the report, the country received a total of 603 412 arrivals during the first quarter of 2023.
“Returning residents from abroad (63,4 percent) constituted the highest proportion of arrivals during the first quarter of 2023. The number of immigrants decreased to 98 in the quarter ending March 2023 from 118 immigrants recorded in the first quarter of 2022.”
The report noted that residents returning from abroad were 382 260 compared to 168 549 in the quarter ending March 2022. This indicates an increase of almost 126,8 percent.
The number of visitors coming to Zimbabwe who used air for their travel during the first quarter were 49 369 representing 22 percent of all arriving visitors.
Mr Mahonde said the volume of visitors who arrived by air increased by 31,8 percent from 37 454 in the first quarter of 2022.
“The majority of visitors who used air came through Robert Gabriel Mugabe International Airport (27 323) followed by Victoria Falls Airport (15 103) and Joshua Mqabuko Nkomo International Airport (6 603). In the first three months of 2023, Plumtree Rail Border Post recorded 266 arrivals compared to 151 in the first quarter of the previous year.
“A total of 171 419 arrivals constituting 77,5 percent of total arrivals used road as the port of entry to get into Zimbabwe in the first quarter of 2023. In comparison 47 645 arrivals were recorded at road ports of entry in the first quarter of 2022. The majority of arriving visitors by road came through Beitbridge (42 838) followed by Nyamapanda (31 150) and Chirundu (31 032,” he noted.
Detailing the arriving visitors by purpose, the report notes that during the first quarter of 2023, there were 73 460 in-transit visitors compared to 39 919 in the quarter ending March 2022 representing an increase of 84 percent.
On the other hand, the number of arriving visitors who came for business purposes increased by 22,3 percent from the quarter ending December 2022 to the quarter ending March 2023.
The number increased from 32 514 to 39 772 in the quarters under review.
For educational purposes, in the first three months of 2023, volumes decreased by 74,1 percent from the first quarter of 2022.
“There were 2 043 education visitors in the quarter ending March 2023 compared to 7 887 in the quarter ending March 2022.”
The number of holiday visitors in the quarter ending March 2023 decreased from a figure of 67 850 in the first quarter of 2022 to 102 790 in the quarter ending March 2023 showing an increase of 51,5 percent.
Those who came for shopping were 2 989 in the quarter ending March 2023 up from 1 451 visitors recorded in the quarter ending March 2022.
This represented an increase of 106 percent.
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