Places worth going — and the hard news around them: openings, visitor records, heritage decisions, fee and visa changes at the world's great attractions. Africa first; every figure checked at the source, every ranking labelled with whose ranking it is.
5 stories · 4 regions · all of them, from everywhere — your saved place never narrows a desk.
The Grand Egyptian Museum opened beside the Giza Plateau on 1 November 2025, displaying King Tutankhamun's complete collection together for the first time. A year on, the museum is a global draw — though Egypt's own official counts of its visitors disagree with each other by millions, and ticket prices rise on 1 November 2026.
Zanzibar received 917,167 international visitors in 2025, up 24.5% on 2024 and the highest total in its history, on official statistics. December alone brought more than 100,000 arrivals. Now operators and officials are debating whether the island should chase a million visitors — or chase higher spending per visitor instead.
The Victoria Falls area received a record combined 565,083 visitors in 2024, passing the pre-pandemic 2019 total, and its airport broke the half-million passenger mark the same year. Growth continued into 2025. Conservation specialists are asking what the ceiling should be for one of the world's great waterfalls.
More than 11 million people visited Notre-Dame Cathedral in the year after it reopened on 7 December 2024 — a record, roughly 30% above its pre-fire levels, and more than the Louvre or the Eiffel Tower draw. The towers reopened in September 2025, entry remains free, and the argument over whether it should stay that way continues.
Japan welcomed a record 42.68 million international visitors in 2025, passing 40 million for the first time, and they spent ¥9.5 trillion. In 2026 the curve has bent: arrivals dipped in the first half after Beijing advised its citizens against travelling to Japan, even as other markets kept growing.
No stories match that combination yet — the desk is still filling.
The Grand Egyptian Museum officially opened on 1 November 2025, near the Giza Pyramids, after roughly two decades of construction.
From: A year of the Grand Egyptian MuseumThe complete Tutankhamun collection — more than 5,000 objects — is displayed together for the first time, within a museum of more than 100,000 artefacts covering about 5,000 years; it is described as the largest archaeological museum dedicated to a single civilisation.
From: A year of the Grand Egyptian MuseumThe museum has received about 7 million visitors since opening and is the world's third most visited museum.
From: A year of the Grand Egyptian MuseumMuseum CEO Ahmed Ghoneim said in July 2026 that foreign visitors made up about 60% of attendance and Egyptians about 40%.
From: A year of the Grand Egyptian MuseumFrom 1 November 2026 a foreign adult ticket costs EGP 1,830 (up from EGP 1,570, +16.6%) and an Egyptian adult ticket EGP 220 (up from EGP 200, +10%), with every category rising between 10% and 16.6%.
From: A year of the Grand Egyptian MuseumZanzibar received 917,167 international visitors in 2025, an increase of 24.5% on the 736,755 recorded in 2024, and the highest annual total in its history.
From: Zanzibar's record yearDecember 2025 brought 100,729 visitors, with bed occupancy close to 89% and more than 815,000 bed nights sold in the month.
From: Zanzibar's record yearThe climb has been steep and sustained: from 260,644 arrivals in 2020 through 638,498 in 2023 and 736,755 in 2024 to the 2025 record, with August 2025 the busiest month ever at 105,506 arrivals.
From: Zanzibar's record yearZanzibar has stopped issuing new land leases on Pemba while it completes its planning frameworks.
From: Zanzibar's record yearChasing ever-higher arrival numbers is the right strategy for Zanzibar.
From: Zanzibar's record yearThe Falls area received a record combined total of 565,083 visitors in 2024, surpassing the previous record of 537,980 set in 2019.
From: Victoria Falls' record 565,083 visitors — and the question of how many the Falls can takeThe south-bank rainforest park in Zimbabwe received 394,681 visitors in 2024, including 295,084 international visitors — just short of its 2019 record of 397,436.
From: Victoria Falls' record 565,083 visitors — and the question of how many the Falls can takeWhen INEC published the final governorship lists for 2027, some of Nigeria's best-known candidates were not on them — including the PDP's Isa Pantami in Gombe and Ladi Adebutu in Ogun. INEC says it was applying a Supreme Court judgment on party membership registers. The affected parties say their candidates were properly registered. We checked both versions.
A Research 8020 survey published by The Standard puts President William Ruto on 26 percent and Nairobi Senator Edwin Sifuna on 25 — a one-point race. An earlier October survey by Politrack Africa put Ruto on 45.1 percent. Both cannot describe the same country the same way; we set out what each poll actually says.
Nigeria's voter register now stands at 103 million after 10.77 million new registrations, INEC says, and collection of new Permanent Voter Cards began on 9 October. With presidential elections fixed for 16 January 2027, the Commission says nine of the fourteen milestones in its revised timetable are done.