Zambia: International tourism, expenditures (current US$)

Key figures

What the numbers say

In 2020, Zambia's international tourism, expenditures (current US$) fell 7.2% on 2019 (from US$511 million to US$474 million).

Across the 22 yearly changes before that (1998 to 2019), the average change was +9.7% and a typical year strayed about 15.6% from that (the standard deviation). This year's change was 1.1 standard deviations below that average, so it was larger than a typical year, though not out of the range seen before.

On record, the biggest yearly rise was 36.7% in 2008 and the biggest yearly fall was 25.2% in 2004. The numbers show how large and when, not why; for the cause, look at what happened in that country in those years.

From 2011 to 2020 the straight-line trend is upward, about US$26.9 million a year. A straight line explains 89% of the movement over 10 observed years.

Worked out from the yearly values above. How the checks work: standard deviation, z-scores and straight-line trends.

A straight-line projection, tested first

Extending that straight line gives about US$631.3 million for 2023. We show this only because the same method, fitted on earlier years, predicted 2018 to 2020 better than "no change" would have: its average miss was US$35.71 million, against US$77.67 million for assuming no change. Treat it as a continuation of the recent pattern, not a forecast of events: it cannot see a recession, a policy change or a revision to the data.

See how a linear trend forecast works and the guide on forecasting without fooling yourself.

How it compares

In 2020, Zambia had the 71st highest value of the 129 economies reporting that year. Higher is not always better: for some indicators the lowest value is the one to aim for. See the full ranking.

Closest to Zambia in the 2020 ranking

• West Bank and Gaza — 68th of 129: US$567 million
• Ecuador — 69th of 129: US$533 million
• Belarus — 70th of 129: US$477 million
• Dominican Republic — 72nd of 129: US$444 million
• Azerbaijan — 73rd of 129: US$439 million
• Uruguay — 74th of 129: US$412 million

What this measures

International tourism expenditures are expenditures of international outbound visitors in other countries, including payments to foreign carriers for international transport. These expenditures may include those by residents traveling abroad as same-day visitors, except in cases where these are important enough to justify separate classification. For some countries they do not include expenditures for passenger transport items. Data are in current U.S. dollars.

Limitations: Tourism can be either domestic or international. The data refers to international tourism, where the traveler's country of residence differs from the visiting country. International tourism consists of inbound (arrival) and outbound (departures) tourism. The data are from the World Tourism Organization (WTO), a United Nations agency. The data on inbound and outbound tourists refer to the number of arrivals and departures, not to the number of people traveling. Expenditure associated with the activity of international visitors has been traditionally identified with the travel item of the Balance of Payments (BOP).

Regional and income-group figures are computed by the World Bank as a gap-filled total.

All 24 values

International tourism, expenditures (current US$) in nearby economies

• Angola — US$691 million (2020)
• Benin — US$130 million (2019)
• Botswana — US$91.8 million (2020)
• Burkina Faso — US$185.2 million (2019)
• Cabo Verde — US$59 million (2020)
• Cameroon — US$697 million (2020)
• Comoros — US$43 million (2020)
• Congo, Dem. Rep. — US$115 million (2018)
• Congo, Rep. — US$457 million (2016)
• Côte d'Ivoire

More private sector & trade data for Zambia

• Merchandise trade (% of GDP) — 91.71% (2025)
• Merchandise imports (current US$) — US$13.17 billion (2025)
• Merchandise exports (current US$) — US$13.31 billion (2025)
• Merchandise imports from economies in the Arab World (% of total merchandise imports) — 16.21% (2023)
• Merchandise imports from high-income economies (% of total merchandise imports) — 37.56% (2023)
• Merchandise imports from low- and middle-income economies outside region (% of total merchandise imports) — 24.96% (2023)
• Merchandise imports from low- and middle-income economies in East Asia & Pacific (% of total merchandise imports) — 18.06% (2023)
• Merchandise imports from low- and middle-income economies in Middle East & North Africa (% of total merchandise imports)

Reading data like this

• Where to find free public data, and how to check it before you trust it — 2 min read
• Data analysis examples: 6 worked from one dataset — 3 min read
• Real change or random noise? A plain guide to reading your numbers — 2 min read

Questions people ask

What is Zambia's international tourism, expenditures (current US$)?

US$474 million in 2020, according to the World Bank (World Development Indicators).

How has it changed since 1997?

It is up 471.08% from US$83 million in 1997 (7.87% a year on average, compounded). The highest value was US$511 million in 2019 and the lowest US$81 million in 1998.

Source

World Bank, World Development Indicators, indicator ST.INT.XPND.CD, licensed CC BY 4.0. Original source: Yearbook of Tourism Statistics, Compendium of Tourism Statistics and data files, UN Tourism Figures are fetched from the World Bank API and refreshed monthly; see the series on data.worldbank.org. The full definition and method are in the World Bank's metadata glossary. Comparisons use the same World Bank release.

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