Background

The last fifteen years have witnessed major strive in the restructuring of Zanzibar economy. The economy has been transformed from a pure public entity into a liberalized. Trade liberalization was among the first steps in the restructuring the Zanzibar economy.
Apparently Zanzibar has made substantial progress in liberalizing its trade and services system, and achievements have been obtained in terms of reducing Zanzibar dependence on receipts from commodity exports which remains vulnerable to world market fluctuation. Tourism and its related services has been one of the areas well undertaken by both local and foreign investors. Since its recognition as an important sector, tourism and its related services have been increasing year after year. The most recent available statistics shows that the number of tourist arrivals has increased from 97,165 tourists in 2000 to over 170,000 tourists in 2011.