The tourism sector in Kenya disregarded poll jitters and registered a 20.3 percent growth in 2017 and Sh120bn revenue up from Sh99bn in 2016.Published on : Friday, February 9, 2018
The tourism sector in Kenya disregarded poll jitters and registered a 20.3 percent growth in 2017 and Sh120bn revenue up from Sh99bn in 2016.
The Kenyan Tourism Cabinet Secretary Najib Balala said that the growth was supported by a 9.8 percent growth in total international arrivals which jumped to 1.474 million arrivals compared to 1.342 million arrivals in 2016.
The tourism sector’s growth was supported by the domestic tourist segment which witnessed bed nights go up to 4 million in 2017 from 3.4 million in 2016, due to increased promotion of domestic tourism by the government.
“We had projected a 17 percent growth in the sector but only managed 9.8 percent growth owing to the prolonged electioneering period. We are however positive about this year and are sure to hit the 16 percent target that we have projected,” Balala said.
According to the latest UNWTO World Tourism report, increase in arrivals to Kenya crossed the estimated global growth in tourism numbers, which indicates that international tourist arrivals (overnight visitors) worldwide increased by 7 percent to reach a total of 1.32 billion in 2017. The US remained the largest source market for Kenya and the UK, the second. Uganda came in third with a share of 6.4 percent, India with 6.2 percent and China with a share of 5.5 percent contribution to the total arrivals in 2017.
Regarding arrivals by region, Europe contributed 36 percent of arrivals, followed by Africa at 29 percent, the Americas at 15 percent, Asia at 15 percent, Middle East at 3 percent and Oceania (which includes Australia) at 2 percent.
Tags: kenya tourism