Why we need long-haul direct flights from more destinations

Tourism is one of the main sources of income for developing countries.

For Kenya, one of Africa’s leading tourism destinations, the sector is the country’s second largest source of foreign exchange after agriculture.

In 2016, the sector contributed more than Sh100 billion in foreign exchange income, a 17.8 per cent growth over 2015. It contributed more than 13.5 per cent to the country’s gross domestic product, and it directly supports an estimated 250,000 jobs, and an additional 350,000 indirectly.

International visitor arrivals to Kenya grew from 752,000 in 2015 to 877,600 in 2016, a 16.7 per cent growth, and in the first four months of 2017, they grew to 292,100 from 264,700 in 2016, a 10.3 per cent growth.

LONG-HAUL DESTINATION

Kenya is a long-haul tourism destination. What this means is that the direct flight time from our main international tourism source markets to Kenya is more than six hours. Mid-haul tourism destinations are those whose direct flight time from the source markets is more than four hours and up to six hours. Short-haul tourism destinations are those whose directly flight time from the source markets is anything less than four hours.

Currently, Kenya is serviced from the key long-haul source markets by five international full-service airlines that fly direct from their hub to Nairobi.

Our national carrier Kenya Airways also services directly seven long-haul international source markets. There are also a handful of European charter carriers that fly directly to Mombasa.

In comparison, South Africa, which is also a long-haul tourism destination and which is regularly quoted as Kenya’s tourism benchmark, is serviced by 16 international full-service airlines that fly direct to the country from their respective hubs.

NINE MARKETS

SA’s national carrier South African Airways services directly nine long-haul international tourism source markets. In 2016, SA reported having received 2.5 million international visitors.

Morocco, another tourism destination that Kenya is frequently compared to, is ranked number one in Africa in international tourism arrivals.

In 2016, the country received 10.3 million international visitors. Its main source market for international visitors is Europe, with the highest numbers being the French and the Spanish.

The other key tourism source markets for the country are the United Kingdom, Germany and the Netherlands. Morocco is a short-haul tourism destination from these five source markets as the direct flight time is less than four hours. Morocco is serviced direct by 17 European full-service and low-cost airlines.

KEY COMPONENT

Air transport is, therefore, a key component in the tourism industry and in particular for a long-haul destination such as Kenya.

The Kenya Tourism Board, the national tourism marketing agency, in 2016, appointed a well-reputed international consultancy firm to work with on the development of an air transport growth strategy for Kenya. Though our visitor arrivals grew significantly between 2015 and 2016, we still want to see the figure grow much more from all markets.

Why is an air transport growth strategy important?

Because of Kenya’s physical location from our key international tourist source markets, the only way for the visitors to get here is through long-haul flights. Yet there are not enough direct long-haul flights to Kenya. And what we have seen from the visitor arrivals to SA is that having long-haul direct flights from more destinations can make a big difference. This is why we are looking forward to the introduction of direct flights between Kenya and the United States.

ITS IMPORTANCE

The Government of Kenya recognises how important the tourism sector is to the country’s growth and foreign exchange earnings, and also how many jobs it creates. The government has increased the tourism marketing budget allocated to the KTB, which has greatly supported the agency in carrying out targeted marketing communications in our key source markets that have led to the increases in tourist arrivals in 2016 and to date.

Improvements in the road infrastructure and the launch of the Madaraka Express passenger rail service between Nairobi and Mombasa will make a big difference to tourism, as well as other sectors in the country.

KTB is confident that Kenya’s tourism is on the right path towards recovery. We expect the volume of tourism to our country to continue to register double-digit percentage growths over the next five years. This will depend on the continued commitment and coordination among many government entities and other stakeholders.

Jimi Kariuki is the chairman of the Kenya Tourism Board.