At least 10 markets are on Kenya's shopping list as in its tourism post-Covid recovery plan with a target of more than one million arrivals.
This is after a 53.3 per cent increase in the number of international arrivals last year which closed at 870,465 up from 567,848 in 2020.
The best year remains 2019 when the country recorded an all-time high arrival of 2.2 million international visitors.
The country is now focusing on untapped markets , Tourism and Wildlife CS Najib Balala says, with the focus mainly in Europe.
These include France, Sweden, Poland, Mexico, Israel, Iran, Australia, Switzerland, Netherlands and Belgium.
While they are not new markets, low marketing activities has denied the country to fully tap into them, with numbers remaining low.
Last year, arrivals were 18,771 (France), 10,107 (Sweden), 9,809 (Poland), 1,972 (Mexico), 2,572 (Israel), 1,809 (Iran), 3,376 (Australia), 6,535 (Switzerland), 12,928 (Netherlands) and 5,697 visitors from Belgium.
“We are gong to focus on untapped markets with aggressive marketing campaigns. Some of the markets have previously not ranked very highly but have potential to grow tremendously as we pursue full recovery,” Balala noted.
The ministry targets to have at least 1,027,151 international arrivals this year with earnings expected to increase to Sh172.9 billion, up from Sh146.5 billion last year.
In the current quarter ( January to March), arrivals are projected at 32.021 million up from 27.1 million last year. 30.038 million in quarter two, 53.930 in quarter three and 56.896 arrivals in the fourth quarter of this year.
Balala has called for the expansion of the country's aviation facilities particularly modernisation of international facilities led by the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport and development of MICE(Meetings, Incentives, Conferences and Exhibitions).
Last year, 26.4 per cent of arrivals (229,804 ) visited the country for business and MICE, data by the Tourism Research Institute indicates.
“This shows that the country has potential for business tourism therefore there is need to develop a new, modern, high capacity and adaptive convention centre,” TRI notes in the annual tourism sector performance report 2021.
The US retained its position as the top market source for total arrivals with 136,981 of its citizens visiting Kenya, where holiday and family visits were the main reasons.
Uganda was the second top source with 80,067 visitors while Tanzania took the third spot with 74,051 arrivals.
Others were the UK (53,264), India (42,159), China(31,610), Germany (27,620), Somalia (26,270), Nigeria (25,399) while Rwanda closed the top ten list with 24,665 visitors to Kenya.
The ongoing vaccination drive and reopening of global travel is expected to boost numbers visiting Kenya, according to Balala.
Since the onset of the pandemic, domestic tourists have been key in keeping the sector afloat, a trend expected to continue this year, with Mombasa, Diani and the Maasai Mara remaining top on the list of places being frequented by Kenyans.
Last year, the domestic market helped increase bed occupancy which went up to total of 4,138,821 as compared to same period in 2020 (2,575,812), recording a recovery of 60.7 per cent.
Room nights in January up to September, 2021 recorded a positive growth with 3,084,957 realised as compared to the same period in 2020(1,986,465) indicating, a growth of 55.3 per cent.
"I believe the domestic market will remain key. I want to thank Kenyans for supporting the tourism sector,” Balala said.
He said the political risk coming with the August elections could the industry and called for a peaceful campaigns and elections.
“I want to call upon politicians, Let's watch our statements. I believe Kenya is mature enough. We have gone thorough that phase and I want to believe that we are all mature enough and believe in this country,” Balala said.
He added: “The investment that we have done in the last 15 years, since 2007, we cannot mess it against in another chaotic election.”
Kenya's tourism ministry is targeting an annual record of five million international tourists by 2025.
This will be driven by innovation, adoption of technology, product development and up-skilling of personnel, according to the tourism ministry.
