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Earnings from tourism nearly doubled last year to Sh 268.1 billion on 1.5 million arrivals from the Sh146.5 billion posted in 2021.

While releasing the sector’s performance report yesterday, Tourism, Wildlife and Heritage Cabinet Secretary (CS) Peninah Malonza attributed the 83 per cent growth to increased arrivals, as travel restrictions eased paving way for the opening up of air travel after the Covid-19.

“International visitor arrivals in the year 2022 closed at 1,483,754 which represented a 70.45 per cent increase as compared to the previous year’s 870,465. This growth can be attributed to many source countries lessening their Covid-19 restrictions and opening up for travel,” Malonza said.

The projections

Last year, immediate former CS Najib Balala projected the earnings would rise to $2.19 billion (Sh276 billion) from 1.46 million arrivals.

Kenya Tourism Board (KTB) acting Chief Executive Officer (CEO) David Gitonga stated that this year’s receipts will hit Sh425 billion, with earnings projected to hit Sh541 billion by 2027.

“This year, looking at the trend and given that the world has really opened up, we anticipate that in the year 2023, we could have up to 2.35 million arrivals, going all the way up to 2.9 million, almost 3 million in 2027,” Gitonga said.

The bulk of arrivals came through the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) which recorded 3.2 million passengers, followed by Mombasa’s Moi International Airport at 702,039, underlying the importance of the aviation sector as a sectoral facilitator in terms of providing accessibility and enabling penetration of new markets.

US citizens led traditional source market arrivals with 209,360, followed by Uganda at 151,121 while the United Kingdom completed top three slots with 131.526 arrivals.

Malonza said 36.63 of the international arrivals came for vacation, 27.85 per cent to visit friends or family (VFR), while 27.24 per cent came for business as well as meetings, incentives, conferences and exhibitions.

“The trend has remained the same as the previous year, whereby America’s main purpose is still holiday followed by Europe, Europe is also holiday followed by VFR. Africa has also maintained the trend whereby the main purpose of visit,” Malonza said.

Tourism is Kenya’s third largest foreign exchange earner behind diaspora remittances and Agriculture. The sector accounts for 10.4 per cent of the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP), 5.5 per cent of Kenya’s formal employment and contributes 4.2 per cent to new investments.

The sector’s mainstay is the African Safari and beach. Malonza said her ministry was keen to diversify niche products including cruise, adventure ecotourism and gastronomy. Her ministry also intends to promote the sector regional tourism to enhance performance of the African markets, which recorded 641,975 tourists.

“To increase the sector’s performance, the destination diversifies its products to include niche products which have a huge potential to boost competitiveness and the value of our tourism,” said the CS.