Over 40 Kenyan travel trade will be re-affirming country’s resilience and readiness for continued business as it showcases tourism products at this year’s International Tourism Bourse (ITB) in Germany from 6th to 10th March, 2019.
The sector is upbeat for better tidings at the close of the year after it recorded a 2 million mark in international arrivals last year, the highest arrivals ever.
Last year, Kenya received 2,025,206 international tourists, a growth of 37.33% compared to 2017, which closed at 1,474,671 international arrivals.
Revenue for the same period were Kshs.157,386,151,000, a 31.2% growth compared to 2017 receipts of Kshs.119,900,000,000 to record the highest earnings.
The Kenyan delegation, led by Hon. Najib Balala, Cabinet Secretary for Tourism & Wildlife, will be riding on the record performance, as the sector begins to implement key strategies to turn around the tourism business.
“Under our National Tourism Blueprint (NTB) 2030, we shall maximize our country’s tourism potential through innovative marketing, product diversification, infrastructure development and investments in hospitality,”says CS Balala.
He added: “We are riding on the current positive image our country is enjoying globally to re-affirm our position as the preferred tourist destination, as well as Kenya’s commitment to improvement of tourism business”.
Three county governments of Kilifi, Samburu and Mombasa are represented at the 53rd edition of ITB.
The German market remains among one of Kenya’s key tourist source markets. It recorded 78,388 arrivals last year, a growth of 59.2% from 2017 that posted 49,247 arrivals.
The Kenya Tourism Board (KTB) Chief Executive Officer, Dr. Betty Radier expressed her optimism that the current growth in tourism numbers will be enhanced, with a number of marketing strategies that KTB has put in place, besides government incentives.
“ITB is one of the platforms of showcasing Kenya’s destination and product diversification. Our global campaigns and the renewed confidence on destination is expected to boost our numbers from the market,”added Dr. Radier.
Kenya is among the over 180,000 exhibitors who are meeting to discover and negotiate the latest travel industry trends and opinions at the ITB, one of the largest tourism fairs in the world.
