A study recently conducted for SCI Foundation by Southwick Associates, “The Economic Contributions of Hunting-Related Tourism in Eastern and Southern Africa,” measured the size of hunting-related tourism’s contributions to the local, national, and regional economies of eight African nations
The study reveals that in-country spending per hunter in Botswana, Ethiopia, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Tanzania, Zambia, and Zimbabwe averaged $20,600 during the average 11-day hunting trip.
This translates into $326 million of direct spending in these eight countries and, when the impact of these expenditures exchanging hands within the economies is calculated, the spending total climbs to an estimated $426 million. In other words, if hunting did not take place, the gross domestic product (GDP) of these eight countries would shrink by at least $426 million.
On the African continent, at least 345 million acres of land (larger than the states of Texas, California and Montana combined) are under conservation management thanks to hunting. Overall, the amount of land managed for hunting is 22 percent larger than the combined area of land protected as national parks.
Hunting concessions provide vital habitat and corridors that link national parks and other protected areas, allowing wildlife the freedom to roam. Hunting is the economic driver that prevents this land from being converted to agriculture and lost to wildlife forever.
Five-year trend of revenue that Tanzania receives from tourist hunting:
- 2018: TZS 20.1 billion
- 2019: TZS 20.8 billion
- 2020: TZS 15.5 billion
- 2021: TZS 35.7 billion
- 2022: TZS 63.03 billion
Tanzania received a total of 147,157 foreign visitors in 2022 who came to the country specifically for tourist hunting, up from 101,930 visitors a year ago, according to data from the Ministry of Natural Resources and Tourism.
Earnings from tourist hunting jumped by 76.8% last year to TZS 63.03 billion.
The tourism ministry attributed the sharp rise in tourist hunting visitor numbers in 2022 to photography tourism, which is a new revenue stream.
Out of a total of 147,157 tourist hunting visitors last year, 139,967 visited the country for photographic purposes, 503 were spectators, while 687 were actual trophy hunters.
Tanzania offers a variety of wildlife species to trophy hunters, ranging from small animals to the largest herbivores of the earth, according to the Tanzania Wildlife Authority (TAWA).
"Some of the most common species are inbuffalo, bushpig, bushbuck, crocodile, eland, elephant, greater kudu, hartebeest, hippo, hyena, impala, klipspringer and leopard," TAWA said on its website.
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Other wildlife available for trophy hunting in Tanzania include lion, reedbuck, roan, sable antelope, serval cat, steenbok, suni, vervet monkey, warthog, wild cat, wildebeest and zebra.
Tanzania also offers a variety of game and water birds for hunting.
