Kenya’s tourism revenue jumps to Sh157.4 billion

Kenya’s tourism industry bounced back in 2018 after a turbulent 2017 to post Ksh157.4 billion in earnings.

Some 2,025,206 visitors toured the country last year up from the 1,474,671 who toured the country in 2017 representing a 37.33% growth.

This is captured in the Kenya Tourism Sector Report 2018 released by the Ministry of Tourism and Forestry on Monday during an event presided over by President Uhuru Kenyatta at State House, Mombasa.

Speaking at the function, President Kenyatta noted that relaxed political temperatures had created a conducive environment to do business as illustrated by Kenya’s improvement in the World Bank’s Ease of Doing Business rankings.

Kenya jumped 19 places to stand at position 61 in Doing Business 2019 with a score of 70.31 up from position 80 in the 2018 rankings.

The Kenya Tourism Sector Report 2018 shows that during the course of the year, Kenya established herself as a holiday destination with 73.9% of the total arrivals being holiday visits while 13.3% of the total arrivals accounting for visitors who were attending conferences or were in the country for business related purposes.

Africa was Kenya’s largest source of tourists contributing 40.76% of all arrivals in the country followed by Europe which contributed to 30.22% of arrivals in the country.

READ: NAIROBI RANKED AMONG TOP 20 MOST DYNAMIC CITIES GLOBALLY

Americas, Oceania and the Middle East contributed to 12.22%, 1.74% and 1.02% of the arrivals into the country.

USA, Tanzania, Uganda, The United Kingdom, India, China, Germany, Italy, South Africa and France were the top 10 individual countries whose citizens preferred Kenya as a tourist destination in 2018 respectively.

The US remains Kenya's No.1 source market. Further growth in this market is anticipated with @KenyaAirways new route #NBONYC#TourismTrendsKE pic.twitter.com/0PqmM2A0Og

— Tourism Research Institute_Kenya (@TRI_Kenya) January 7, 2019

“The US remains Kenya’s number one source market. Further growth is projected with the operation of direct flights to the country,” reads the report.

SEE ALSO: KQ PARTNER KLM NAMED AMONG WORLD’S SAFEST AIRLINES

In the report, The Kenya Tourism Research Institute notes that Kenya’s brand was further strengthened by the arrivals of key international personalities including British Prime Minister Theresa May, former US President Barrack Obama, American First Lady Melania Trump and Prince William.