Kenya's tourism industry, one of the East African nation's
top sources of hard currency, surged 83% in 2022 to 268 billion
shillings ($2.13 billion) as COVID curbs eased, the government
said on Wednesday.
Visitors rebounded to 72% of their pre-pandemic level in
2019, Tourism Minister Peninah Malonza told reporters, outpacing
the rest of the continent which stands at 65% of the
pre-pandemic level.
Kenya offers beach holidays along its Indian Ocean
coastline and wildlife safaris inland. The Unites States was the
main source of visitors during the year, Malonza said, followed
by Uganda, Britain and Tanzania.
China, which had been a growing source market before the pandemic struck, started to ease travel restrictions this year.
Kenyan authorities will focus their marketing efforts on
emerging markets like Rwanda, Nigeria and Ethiopia, Malonza
said.
Tourism earnings are projected to rise to 425 billion shillings ($3.37 billion) this year, said David Gitonga, chief executive of the state Tourism Research Institute, before increasing to 540 billion shillings in 2027. But the sector is also facing serious challenges, said Kareke Mbiuki, chairman of parliament's tourism and wildlife committee, citing cuts for infrastructure required by the sector, part of a broader austerity drive by the government. The country is also facing a severe drought, Malonza said.
Hilton closed its 50-year-old hotel in downtown
Nairobi at the start of this year, in a further sign of the
problems facing the sector that contributes a tenth of Kenya's
annual economic output.
(Reporting by Duncan Miriri; Editing by Nick Macfie)
