Kenya says sees higher tourism revenues, arrivals in 2013

Friday, 5 July 2013 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

REUTERS: Kenya expects tourism revenues to rise four percent to 100 billion shillings ($ 1.16 billion) this year, helped by higher visitor numbers after a peaceful election, the state-run tourism board said. A peaceful transition of power to President Uhuru Kenyatta after the closely contested election in March has helped rebuild Kenya’s reputation as one of Africa’s most stable democracies. Fears of a repeat of violence after an election five years ago when more than 1,200 people were killed had slowed activity in the tourism sector, the country’s second highest income earner after agriculture, before the March vote.

“The growth (in 2013 arrivals and revenues) would have been bigger but election uncertainties distressed the first quarter of the year,” KTB Managing Director Muriithi Ndegwa said in an interview in Mombasa. “That is why we have requested 500 million shillings from government for a tourism marketing recovery program to help compensate for the dip between January and March.” The first quarter of 2013 experienced an 18% drop in number of international arrivals to Kenya, registering 255,256 tourists, down from 312,258 recorded in a similar period in 2012, Ndegwa said. He said tourist arrivals should rise 10% to 1.4 million visitors this year, up from 1.2 million in 2012. Ndegwa said the country was targeting new markets like Brazil, Mexico, Morocco and Zambia, Ethiopia and Uganda. German airline Condor, which operates five direct flights per week to Kenya from Germany in winter, and four per week in the summer, said it intended to introduce another direct flight from Vienna, Austria, to Kenya beginning in November. “We are planning for 30, 270-passenger flights per year to bring an additional 8,000 tourists to Kenya annually,” Condor’s International Relations and Government Affairs Manager Ilona Germes, said at a hotel industry conference on Thursday, adding this was subject to Kenya government’s approval. The airline flies directly to Mombasa and Nairobi from Germany and brings in 40,000 passengers per year. ($ 1 = 86.0000 Kenyan shillings)