Zambia does not publish an official survey of what tourists spend per day or per trip, so this page does not put a daily-budget figure in the facts box the way some other country pages here do. What is verified instead: the visa fees you will actually pay at the border, national park entry charges, the tax added to your accommodation bill, and the licence that should be backing any lodge or hotel you book.
Visa fees: a January 2026 increase
Zambia’s Department of Immigration raised its tourist visa fees from 1 January 2026. A single-entry tourist visa now costs USD 50 (the Department’s own fee page quotes USD 50.50 when paid by card, USD 50 by mobile money or cash), roughly double the previous rate. A double-entry visa and a multiple-entry visa are both USD 80, a transit visa is USD 25, and a day-tripper visa, for a visit of under 24 hours, is USD 10. Most EU, UK and US passport holders qualify for visa-free tourist entry up to 90 days instead; check your own passport’s requirement before assuming you need to pay any of these.
The KAZA Univisa
If your trip also crosses into Zimbabwe, or adds a Botswana day trip through the Kazungula border, the KAZA UniVisa costs USD 50 per adult, valid 30 days within a 12-month period, and covers unlimited crossings between Zambia and Zimbabwe during that window. Unlike the ordinary tourist visa, the KAZA price was not changed by the January 2026 revision. It is sold at Lusaka and Livingstone airports, the Victoria Falls land border on the Zimbabwe side, at Kazungula, and online through the Department’s eVisa portal, and it is worth the single fee if you are visiting both countries rather than buying two separate single-entry visas.
National park entry fees
Published rates for foreign visitors vary a lot by park: USD 25 per person per day at South Luangwa and Lower Zambezi, USD 20 at Kafue and North Luangwa, USD 10-15 at most other named parks (Luambe is USD 15; Lochinvar, Nsumbu, Kasanka, West Lunga and Blue Lagoon are USD 10), USD 10 at Mosi-oa-Tunya, the national park on the Zambian side of Victoria Falls, and USD 5 at every other, unlisted national park. Children under 5 enter free and ages 5-13 pay half price. These figures need a caveat: the Department of National Parks and Wildlife’s own site publishes no fee schedule you can check directly, so this page relies on zambiatourism.com, a long-running independent travel portal rather than the regulator itself, and the rates are labelled as 2025 pricing. Confirm the current tariff with DNPW or at the park gate before budgeting around it.
VAT and the tourism levy on your room bill
Overnight stays at licensed accommodation carry 16% VAT plus a separate 1.5% Tourism Levy, in effect since March 2017, on top of any service charge. The Zambia Revenue Authority’s own guidance shows both as separate lines on the guest folio, so a quoted room rate does not necessarily include them; ask whether the rate you are shown is net of tax before you book.
Accommodation licensing
Every hotel, guesthouse, lodge, safari camp, campsite, caravan park, backpackers hostel and self-catering property is required to hold a tourism enterprise licence from the Zambia Tourism Agency (ZTA) and carry its one-to-five star grading. This is not a cost you pay directly, but it is a useful quality check: the ZTA has been publicly pushing establishments to get licensed and graded, which implies not every property currently is.
Why no daily budget figure
Some other country pages on this site carry a verified daily-spend average from a national tourism survey or central bank report. No equivalent exists for Zambia: no public body publishes a per-tourist daily-expenditure survey, so rather than estimate one, this page sticks to the fees and taxes that are individually verified and will update if an official figure appears.
Practical tips
- Check whether your passport already qualifies for visa-free entry before paying for a visa you don’t need.
- Buy the KAZA Univisa instead of two single-entry visas if your trip also touches Zimbabwe or a Botswana day trip.
- Budget park entry per person per day, not per group, and confirm the current rate at the gate since the published figures carry a review flag.
- Ask whether a quoted room rate already includes the 16% VAT and 1.5% Tourism Levy.
What to check before you go
- The current national park entry tariff for the specific parks on your itinerary, confirmed with DNPW or at the gate, since the figures on this page come from an independent portal rather than the regulator.
- Your own passport’s visa requirement and current fee, since the ordinary tourist visa price doubled in January 2026 and could change again.
- Whether the accommodation you’ve booked holds a current ZTA licence and star grading, as a quality signal rather than a direct cost.
- The current UK, Dutch and US government travel advisories, in the safety guide.