The Kenya Tourism Board has been alarmed by the huge decline in the number of tourists that Kenya has recorded in the last first quarter of this year. According to the report produced by the Ministry of Tourism and the Kenya Tourist Board, tourists have reduced by 3.2% and 2.2% for the months of January and March respectively but then there was an increase of 4.3% in the month of February.
However, Dan Mwazo who is the current Minister for Tourism said that this decline in the number tourism attacks of terrorism threats on the Lamu island at the end of 2011 and after this, several travel advisories came up from some of Kenya’s key source markets like UK and France thus the reason why the number of international tourist arrivals at the Moi International Airport Mombasa dropped by about 21.8% to stand at 72,753 by March 31, 2012. Tourism is on of the major sources of revenue to the Kenyan government which is why the government and all the stake holders have got use all they have to market and protect the tourism industry from destruct of any sort.
Apparently, the number of travelers received at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport happened to increase by 8.8% which was up to 239,523 from the 220,097 traveler who came in between the month of January and March 2011. Half of the major markets also realized an increase in the number of tourists with the same quarter period and this was evident in Finland and Sweden were they recorded 79.2% and 69.6% within the same period the year before. Mwazo added that his office is almost sure that all the measures that are put in place by the government to help protect the country’s tourists’ attractions like the wildlife; the culture stuffs are yielding some good results after all.
Much as the number of tourists from different countries increased, UK is still the major source of these tourists who visit Kenya, USA in second place, Italy and then Germany. India increased its supply by 15% between January and March and therefore pushed France of the top 5 source markets but the numbers from France decreased tremendously (75%)due to the closure of the two major flight operators in Mombasa as well as the abolition of the XL Airlines charters to Mombasa at the beginning of the year in February.
However, Muriithi Ndegwa the Managing Director of Kenya Tourist Board mentioned that the fact that this year is the year for election, the tourism industry may have to experience a decline in the number of clients because people from different parts of the world may not be so sure whether after election Kenya will stable following the previous elections’ out come. Travelers are not so sure they will be able to have safe trips in Kenya after the election period. Muriithi also mentioned that in order to attract more tourists and also have those that have come already come back to Kenya; KTB has improved on its tourism products menu so that they have a good reason for returning and in the long run, this may help to build confidence among potential travelers. KTB has included sports, culture, and adventure tourism as their attractions and aiming at having Kenya as one of the top destination in East Africa.
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