Kenya First-Quarter Tourist Arrivals Rise 15% to 313,691
Tourists visiting Kenya rose 15 percent in the first quarter from a year earlier, buoyed by the global economic recovery, the Ministry of Tourism said.
International arrivals rose to 313,691, the Nairobi-based ministry said in an e-mailed statement today.
“The increased investment confidence, improved economy and security as well as growth in international flights have effectively helped to increase arrivals,” the Tourism Ministry said, according to the statement.
Kenya, whose largest single market for visitors is the U.K., is hoping that its connection to the royal wedding will boost tourist numbers. Prince William proposed to Kate Middleton on holiday in Kenya last year. The couple married in London’s Westminster Abbey on April 29.
The East African nation attracted a record 1.1 million holidaymakers from abroad last year, up 15 percent from the year before, while earnings jumped 18 percent to 73.7 billion shillings ($847 million), Tourism Minister Najib Balala said on March 7.
Piracy off the east coast of Africa has scared off cruise tourism, the statement said. Only 558 cruise ships docked in Kenya last year, down from 12,096 a year earlier. The industry is starting to rebound with growth of 15 percent to 586 cruise- liner arrivals in the first quarter, compared with the same period a year earlier, the statement said.
Kenya, the home of wild game parks including the Maasai Mara in the country’s southwest and Indian Ocean beaches, is on track to reach its target of 3 million visitors by 2015, Planning Minister Wycliffe Oparanya said yesterday. Tourism is a “key” generator of foreign exchange for the country, he said.
To contact the reporter on this story: Sarah McGregor in Nairobi at smcgregor5@bloomberg.net.
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Andrew J. Barden at barden@bloomberg.net.
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