Tanzania Mandates Travel Insurance for Most Foreign Visitors

Tanzania now requires most inbound foreign visitors to purchase a designated travel insurance policy, even if they already carry private trip insurance or have coverage through a credit card. The requirement took effect Oct. 1, according to The Points Guy. For travelers with upcoming bookings, this is an entry requirement to address before departure, not an optional upgrade to a safari or beach package.

The mandate falls under Section 134A of Tanzania’s Insurance Act, Cap. 394, amended through the Finance Act 2025, The Points Guy reported. It applies to arrivals by air, land and sea. The designated insurer depends on where travelers enter the country, but either approved policy allows travel between mainland Tanzania and Zanzibar.

Who needs Tanzania’s mandatory travel insurance?

The rule covers most foreign arrivals, not every visitor without exception. According to The Points Guy, transit passengers and diplomats are exempt, along with select work and residence permit holders and some residents of other African states. Most American tourists will need the required coverage.

The report does not identify the qualifying permit categories or African states covered by those exemptions. Travelers relying on an exemption need to establish that their status qualifies rather than treating any work permit, residence permit or African residency as sufficient.

The means of arrival does not remove the requirement. The Points Guy explicitly includes land and sea entry alongside airport arrivals. Travelers entering overland or by ship therefore fall within the mandate unless they qualify for an exemption; it is not a rule limited to passengers flying into Tanzania.

Your entry point determines which insurer to use

For arrivals in mainland Tanzania, travelers must purchase coverage through National Insurance Corporation, according to The Points Guy. The report identifies Kilimanjaro International Airport near Arusha and Julius Nyerere International Airport in Dar es Salaam as examples of mainland entry points.

Visitors entering through Zanzibar must instead purchase a policy through Zanzibar Insurance Corporation. This is a designated-provider requirement, not simply an instruction to show proof of insurance from whichever company sold the traveler an existing policy.

There is an important distinction for trips combining the mainland and islands: The Points Guy reports that either designated policy permits travel between mainland Tanzania and Zanzibar. Under that account, travelers do not need to purchase both policies merely because their itinerary includes both places. Choose the insurer based on the entry point, rather than treating each portion of the trip as a separate insurance purchase.

Premiums, family options and the 92-day limit

The Points Guy puts premiums at around $44 per adult and $22 per child ages 3-17. Children under 3 are free, and groups of 10 or more receive a 10% discount. Individual, family and group packages are available based on the size of the traveling party.

Those are reported price estimates, not a reason to assume the final charge without checking the designated insurer’s purchase process. For families and organized groups, the child pricing and group discount are relevant parts of the booking decision, rather than a single adult rate applied across the entire party.

The policy is valid for up to 92 days and permits multiple entries, according to The Points Guy. Its report specifically describes travelers entering Tanzania, continuing by car to other African countries and returning to Tanzania under the same policy, provided the total trip does not exceed 92 days.

That makes the validity period particularly relevant to a multicountry itinerary. Multiple entry does not mean unlimited duration; the reported arrangement ties those return visits to the same 92-day window.

Required coverage is not the same as complete protection

The mandated policies are designed to provide emergency assistance for accidents, health emergencies and repatriation costs, The Points Guy reported. The publication also cited the Tanzanian government as saying that baggage delays and theft are covered.

Zanzibar’s policy provides useful context, but its specific benefits should not be assumed to describe the mainland product. According to HelloSafe, the compulsory Zanzibar scheme has been in force since Oct. 1, 2024. HelloSafe lists a $50,000 medical coverage limit for that policy and says it does not include trip cancellation coverage.

Those distinctions matter when deciding what to do with insurance already purchased. An existing private policy does not replace the required designated policy, according to The Points Guy. Equally, meeting an entry requirement does not establish that the compulsory product covers every financial or medical exposure on the itinerary. The Zanzibar cancellation exclusion is a concrete reason to examine the policies separately rather than assume they are interchangeable.

Address the requirement before departure

The Points Guy advises obtaining the required coverage before traveling, warning that visitors could face arrival delays or potentially be turned away without it. Travelers with existing bookings should identify their first entry point, use the corresponding designated insurer and check the applicable party pricing and validity period.

The immediate task is specific: secure the policy Tanzania requires without confusing it with coverage already held. For a mainland-and-Zanzibar trip, the reported cross-territory validity also matters. The requirement adds a purchase, but The Points Guy’s account does not call for buying a second designated policy simply to move between the two.