– Hope in the sector –
As illustrated by Mbithi, all hope is indeed not lost with rays of hope shining from even the most unlikely places.
Northern Kenya zone occupancy for instance more than doubled from 60,900 in 2014 to 135,100 in 2015.
Additionally, zones which included the Coastal other, Maasailand, Nyanza Basin and Western Kenya also noted improvement.
“Bed-night occupied by East Africa residents grew by 74.8 percent from 173,900 in 2014 to 303,700 in 2015.”
The number of African residents coming into the country also registered growth by 6.5 percent to 3.6 million with the highest number being Kenyan residents.
Furthermore, the availability of hotel bed-nights in hotels, lodges and other rooming houses grew by 1.6 percent from 19.8 million in 2014 to 20.1 million in 2015. This has been attributed to increased investments in the hospitality industry.
The renovations at the National Museum seem to have paid off if the increase in the number of visitors following its re-opening is anything to go by.
“The National Museum main gate recorded a remarkable performance of 264,000 visitors in 2015 following its re-opening after renovations.”
Fort Jesus was also noted to have increased visitors.
“The sector is indeed optimistic for growth. As KTB we are keen on conversion of awareness of destination to the actual sales. We are keen on tapping into the Africa market as well as regional to boost the arrivals from our traditional markets,” Mbithi explained.
“Our past performance in three months (Jan-March 2016) regarding international arrivals through air and sea shows a 17.5 percent growth compared to the same period last year. This is an indication that the sector is poised to record a growth trajectory in the coming months,” she said in conclusion.
