A group of Chinese managers of tour companies and sales executives is expected to visit Kenya in the next three weeks in a familiarisation trip organised by the Kenya Tourism Board (KTB).
The Board has confirmed 114 executives will undertake an itinerary tour of the country in the collaborative promotion following talks between Kenya Tourism Board (KTB) and Kenya’s Embassy in China held early this year. “Following our reassurance campaigns in Beijing and Shanghai together with our embassy earlier this year, major Chinese tour operators are beginning to show renewed interest in selling Kenyan destinations,” says KTB Managing Director Muriithi Ndegwa.
According to Kenyan ambassador to China Michael Kinyanjui the tour is set to equip the Chinese tour operators and agents with first-hand experience on Kenya as a destination with a target of 100 tourists from China every month especially during the low season. National carrier Kenya Airways has three direct flights from Guangzhou to Nairobi every week and this will ease the pressure on the tourists.
China has been Kenya’s business ally and is among the top ten tourist source markets to Kenya. However, the figures fell last year from by 9.8% to record 31,486 arrivals down from 34,923 same period in 2013. KTB Managing Director attributed the drop that was reported across all the markets to insecurity and the Ebola scare but noted that the market is expected to regain its upward growth trajectory with reassurance campaigns.
Leave a comment