Tanzania wins Africa’s Leading Destination title as Selous Game reserve debuts as best attraction in 2026

‘Spoiler Alert!’

Tanzania seems to have once more retained the crown of being Africa’s leading destination during the just held World Travel Awards 2026.

However, there is one surprise, the country’s Selous Game Reserve has for the first time emerged as the leading Africa’s Attraction.

This is the second time in a row that the country is scooping the top WTA destination spot on the continent as far as the prestigious global awards are concerned, but for Selous, it’s a maiden entry.

Zanzibar bagged the leading ‘Events and Festivals’ destination award.

The home to Mount Kilimanjaro, Ngorongoro Crater, the legendary Serengeti Wildebeests’ Migration, the giant Tarangire Elephants, Kilwa Ruins and Zanzibar Islands, Tanzania also won in the same category of the awards for the year 2025 and 2024 respectively.

In fact, Kilimanjaro, which is the highest peak on the continent, also took the crown of ‘Africa’s leading Mountain National Park 2026,’ beating its sibling, the Arusha National Park which is home to Mount Meru, Tanzania’s second highest elevation.

As one of the eight East African Community Member states, Tanzania attracts an average of 5 million tourists per annum, with Ngorongoro, Serengeti and Tarangire getting the lion share of the foreign visitors’ arrivals.

Tanzania through TTB also bagged ‘Africa’s leading tourist board award 2026.

As the result, Tanzania has also been selected to host the World Travel Awards 2026 grand finale to be held in Dar-es-salaam on the 12th of December 2026.

Historically, the country first grabbed the WTA top African accolade in 2021 and after that, its closest neighbor, Kenya, moved in to win in 2022 and 2023, before the golden plaque returned to Tanzania in 2024.

Kenya previously won the leading Africa Destination Award in 2020 and 2019.

In 2018 the award had gone to South Africa, the home of Kruger and Table Mountain.

On the other hand, a year earlier in 2017 it was Rwanda, the country of a thousand hills and mountain gorillas, which grabbed the continental title.

The 2026 World Travel Awards (WTA) Africa Gala Ceremony was held in Zanzibar, an Island which also emerged as Africa’s ​leading beach destination.

Zanzibar again won the award in 2025, 2022 and 2021.

During the 2025 World Travel Awards Gala Ceremony, it was Tanzania which hosted the event in Dar-es-salaam, and it seems in 2026 the organizers have selected the country again.

Selous is one of the two debuting Game Reserve (different from National Parks) to win the World Travel Awards.

The Mpanga Kipengere was the second to win in the WTA 2026 as the continent’s leading honeymoon destination a category which was previously won by Kitulo National Park in 2025.

Tanzania’s National Parks such as Nyerere, Serengeti, Mount Kilimanjaro, Kitulo, Ruaha and Tarangire as well as the Ngorongoro Conservation Area have been winning the awards in different categories.

The Tanzania Tourist Board (TTB) is also among the frequent winners of the World Travel Awards.