KTF chairman Mohamed Hersi on Monday informed tour operators and travel agents based in overseas markets that Kenya remained receptive to tourists.
All is well in Kenya, and we call on holidaymakers who were planning to visit the country to come and have fun,he said.
Kenya will remain peaceful during a repeat of the presidential election to take place within 60 days.
Mr Hersi said normal life continues in Nairobi and all the tourist circuits including the national parks, game reserves and the beach resorts at the Coast.
It is still a peak season for the safari circuit as international visitors are still pouring in the Maasai Mara National Reserve for game drives and other parks across the country, said Mr Hersi who is also the chief executive at Sun Africa Hotels.
He said he expects more tourists to visit the Coast as the winter season approaches in Europe.Lodges and tented camps in the Mara have since July been busy, thanks to the wildebeest migration spectacle.
Kenya Association of Hotelkeepers and Caterers (KAHC) Coast branch executive officer Sam Ikwaye said hotel occupancy in Mombasa had improved following the calm enjoyed after the Supreme Court verdict.
He said hotel guest numbers had jumped to 60 per cent up from 50 per cent last month due peace in the region.At the Coast, international arrivals are on the increase following resumption of charter flights from Europe to Mombasa two months ago.
A repeat of the presidential election will not affect the industry given that the country enjoyed peace during the General Election last month.
Visitor numbers are expected to hit the 1.5 million mark by the end of this year, according to Kenya Tourism Board (KTB) officials.
Last year, international arrivals to the country rose by 16.7 per cent to 877,602 up from 752,073 in 2015.
The country also received 429,749 cross border visitors, putting the total combined arrivals during the period to 1.3 million, a 10 per cent growth from the previous year.
KTB chairman Jimi Kariuki and KTB chief executive officer Betty Radier said they are counting on international arrivals to hit their target.
Mr Kariuki attributed the tourism fortunes to a reduction of park entry fees, visa waiver for children under 16 and charter incentive programmes as well as a waiver of landing fees for Moi and Malindi international airports.
A number of international airlines have increased flights to Jomo Kenyatta International Airport in Nairobi and Moi International Airport in Mombasa following a surge in tourists visiting the country for holidays.
Airlines that have increased flights from Europe to Nairobi include Lufthansa and Swiss international carriers.Mr Kariuki and Ms Radier said visitors from across the globe had since July been flocking to the Masai Mara National Reserve to watch the wildebeest migration.
In the past two months, wildlife enthusiasts have been pouring into the Mara in droves to witness the migration of wildebeests from Tanzania to Kenya, Mr Kariuki said.
Charter airlines that have resumed flights from Italy to Mombasa include Neos Air, Meridiana Fly and Blue Panaroma.
A polish carrier Enter Air is also operating flights between Warsaw and Mombasa while Condor serves the Frankfurt-Munich-Mombasa route.
Hotels in the coastal resort towns are at the moment receiving more international tourists following the return of charter airlines, said Mr Kariuki.
According to Ms Radier, the industry’s growth has been bolstered by yielding markets such as the United States, United Kingdom, Germany, India and China.
The KTB chief executive attributed the growth to the government’s tourism recovery campaigns carried out locally and internationally.
In the past five years, KTB has been focusing on tourism recovery by convincing the international markets that Kenya is a safe holiday destination in a bid to overcome perceptions of insecurity, she said.
She added: Security improvement and positive image building campaigns have paid off as the international markets now have confidence in Kenya.
To increase international tourist numbers, Ms Radier said KTB would focus more on markets which yield good results.She added that the marketing agency was working towards promoting the country in new markets.
Ms Radier said this financial year, the government allocated the agency Sh2 billion, with 80 per cent of the funds to be spent on marketing activities.
We have been aggressively marketing the country in traditional markets of the United Kingdom, US, Germany, Italy and France. Our efforts are paying off, she added.
The marketing agency, she said, has also carried out tourism promotion in emerging markets of India and China, adding that tourist numbers from the two markets have been on the rise.
Last year, the US was our top market in terms of arrivals, followed by the UK, India and China. Uganda was our top market in Africa, she explained.
Apart from traditional and emerging markets from Europe and Asia, Ms Radier said KTB is also wooing more tourists from South Africa, West Africa and North Africa.
Through the Tembea Kenya campaign, we are also doing domestic tourism drives to encourage Kenyans to travel across the country for holidays, she said.
The marketing agency, she added, targets to woo more tourists from neighbouring countries of Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda, Burundi and Ethiopia.
Since July, lodges and camps in the Mara have been receiving international visitors from the US, UK, Germany, Italy, France, Australia, Japan, China, Switzerland and Austria.
Following the calm enjoyed in the country, hotels, lodges and camps are expected to register high guest numbers between this month and December.
Kenya’s tourism industry had two positive things going for it in the last one week despite jitters over elections.
First, the decision by the Opposition Nasa to seek legal redress at the Supreme Court has significantly reduced political tension. Second, the travel advisory issued by the UK’s Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) does not include Safari destinations and beach resorts at the Coast.
The FCO had on August 13 updated its travel advice against Kenya, citing protests that had erupted in a number of areas following the disputed presidential election results.
The hoteliers quickly took note of the bright spots. The key magnet for tourists: the national parks, game reserves and wildlife conservancies as well as coastal resort towns were not covered by the warning.
The hoteliers noted that the FCO warning affects part of Lamu County where the Kenya Defence Forces is currently leading an air campaign against Somali-based Al-Shabaab terrorists but excludes its islands including Manda which foreign visitors flock to.
Mr Sam Ikwaye, the Kenya Association of Hotelkeepers and Caterers (KAHC) Coast Branch Executive Officer, says the travel advice will not deter British holidaymakers from visiting Kenya in the remaining part of the year.
Mr Ikwaye said the UK is a key market for Kenya with tourists flocking to our beaches, parks, and wildlife conservancies.
Since security has significantly improved at the coast, the KAHC official called on operators of chartered airlines in the UK to resume flights to Mombasa to boast tourist arrivals.
Charter airlines from the UK market pulled out of the Mombasa route in 2014 over security concerns. That all tourist hotspots in the country are not affected by the UK travel advice is a major indicator that the country is safe for holidays, Mr Ikwaye said.
In Lamu, county tourism director Ali Ahmed applauded the UK for excluding Lamu and Manda islands from the travel advisory. Previously, he said, UK advisories included the Lamu archipelago impacting negatively on tourism.
Following peaceful elections, Mr Ahmed said more local and international tourists were expected to visit the archipelago.
It is worth noting that the entire Lamu County remained peaceful during and after the General Election, bringing hope to efforts by the government to revive tourism on the archipelago, he said.
Lamu is expected to receive more international tourists from the UK, France, Spain, Germany and Scandinavian countries, he said.
Tourism Observer
