Kenya opens nine tourism offices abroad

Nine new tourism marketing offices have been opened in the last four months in Europe, Asia and the Middle East to boost the number of visitors coming to Kenya.

Tourism minister Najib Balala said on Tuesday the new offices will be expected to drive the goal of three million visitors a year.

The offices are in Russia, Czech Republic, Austria, Dubai, Australia, Japan, Switzerland, India and Sweden.

The offices will complement others selling the country as a perfect tour destination.

Kenya has offices in New York, Amsterdam, London, Milan, Paris, Zurich, Vienna, Hong Kong, Beijing among others.

Plans are underway to set up offices in South Africa and in West Africa, he told journalists in a Nairobi hotel.

Tourism is one of Kenya’s biggest foreign exchange earners after tea and horticulture and was badly hit by the 2008 post-election violence and the global economic recession. Last year, it generated Sh62.4 billion.

The industry posted an 18.5 per cent increase on the previous year’s earnings of Sh52.7 billion results which the Kenya Tourism Board officials attributed to aggressive marketing.

A study by Stanbic Researchers indicate that the sector might miss its target of 10 per cent contribution to the country’s gross domestic product by 2012 if marketing is not carried out aggressively.

“We need at least Sh2 billion which should not be given piecemeal as this will interrupt our activities,” said the minister.

He said his ministry will provide incentives to airlines to enable them fly directly to the country in a bid to bring in more visitors to the country.

“Instead of just encouraging charter flights to bring in tourists to say Mombasa, we shall encourage other commercial airlines to bring in more visitors,” said Mr Balala.

Kenya is still hurting from Delta’s postponement of its planned direct flights from Atlanta to Nairobi, due to security concerns.

Meanwhile, Mr Balala has welcomed the outcome of the ongoing UN conservation meeting in Qatar saying the move to outlaw trade in ivory was good for tourism.

“Allowing the sale of ivory will be catastrophic...it will encourage poaching. We need to conserve our elephants,” he said.