Kenya’s tourism recovery stirs hope for the sector – KTB boss John Chirchir

By Steve UMIDHA

Kenya’s tourism industry is booming once again, with international arrivals now expected to match the pre-pandemic levels, according to projections by Kenya Tourism Board (KTB) – the country’s travel marketing agency.

KTB’s acting Chief executive John Chirchir expressed confidence that international tourist visits could surpass the 2019 numbers – when the sector reported its best performance in as many years, with 2.05million arrivals and contributed US$ 1.76billion in revenues.

The 2023 target will outstrip the 70.45 percent increase in the international tourist arrivals recorded last year according to the agency, where some 1,483,752 foreigners visited the country for holiday and meetings, and brought in Sh 268.09 billion in revenues.

It expects this year’s growth to be boosted by the improving domestic tourism and value addition by sector players as well as improved marketing strategies of the country’s exotic culture.

“Looking at last year and this year’s tourism performance we are happy as a destination that will be closing the year at par with the 2019 period. We are looking at closing the year at over 2million international arrivals and improving the uptake of domestic tourism by over 6 million bed nights,” offered Chirchir in an exclusive interview with this writer last week.

And by 2027, KTB boss who took over in November last year, albeit in an acting capacity following the departure of Dr Betty Radier, is optimistic that Kenya as a destination will align its marketing initiatives to grow tourism arrivals of 5.5 million yearly to match the government’s targets.

Further, KTB plans to work with content creators and sports personalities in an effort to promote domestic or local travel experience.

“The indicators for now are that the high season is promising, and most of the accommodation has been booked ahead with aircraft seats, SGR and tour vans have been booked in advance,” he said.

Adding that, the agency has since embarked on exploring new partnerships, strengthen the existing ones with other players with the key objective of building on each other’s strength to grow tourism numbers and receipts, with a special focus on meetings, incentives, conferences and exhibitions or MICE market under threat from emerging markets like Rwanda and Ethiopia.

The MICE sector accounted for 13.5 percent of Kenya’s 2019 performance and under the new administration, East Africa’s most developed economy is banking on the sector to take prominence on the country’s tourism recovery roadmap.

Other agencies like the Tourism Research Institute, forecast Kenya’s tourism revenue to increase by almost 60 percent this year to Sh425. 4 billion, expecting the number of visitors to reach 2.35 million by December, with MICE a key ingredient in snowballing that target.

The Telegraph Travel Awards 2023 ranked Kenya at position seven among the top destinations for tourists.

Indeed, the Ministry of Tourism, Wildlife and Heritage last month said it was working on a conceptual framework to map Kenya’s tourist attraction sites and re-invigorate the industry, and one of the sectors worst hit by Covid-19 pandemic slump.

Tourism Principal Secretary John Ololtuaa said data will be collected from the 47 counties and will be used by the Kenya Tourism Board (KTB) to leverage their “unique selling points to enable the marketing agency to attract more tourists.”

In addition to the traditional products, the country can also leverage its diverse culture, sports and cuisine to attract more visitors and shore up the sector’s numbers.

Conversations around the high taxes and levies in the sector are also expected to feature heavily among local industry stakeholders following the full enactment of the finance act 2023. Tourism and hospitality industry players have consistently asked the national and county governments to reduce the number of taxes and levies in the sector to boost its recovery.

Levies introduced by counties coupled with already existing statutory taxes, they said are pushing up the cost of tourism products.

Players in the tourism sector were banking on the Court of Appeal’s ruling on the contested Financial Act, 2023 to save their businesses from high taxes, but will now be forced to pass on the additional taxes to their consumers after the court lifted orders barring the implementation of the act, following successful application by Cabinet Secretary National Treasury and Planning Njuguna Ndungu, and Attorney General Justin Muturi.