71.9 percent of visitors came for holiday, while 13.4 percent came for business. 9.4 percent came for other reasons while 5.3 percent came on transit/FILE
NAIROBI, Kenya, Apr 20 – For the first time since 2012, earnings from the tourism sector improved to record a 17.8 percent from Sh84.6 billion in 2015 to Sh99.7 billion in 2016, official data reveals.
The number of international visitor arrivals rose by 13.5 percent to 1.3 million in 2016.
Kenya National Bureau of Statistics in its 2017 Economic Survey has credited the rebound partly to improved security and successful high profile conferences hosted in the country.
Additionally, the sector has benefited from aggressive marketing in the domestic and international markets.
Growth has been recorded in various sub-sectors which include a rise in hotel bed-nights occupancy the number of local and international conferences hosted by the country.
As far as the share of international arrivals is concerned, 71.9 percent of visitors came for holiday, while 13.4 percent came for business. 9.4 percent came for other reasons while 5.3 percent came on transit.
“The growth in international arrivals was more pronounced in the third quarter, expanding from 322,100 in the third quarter of 2015 to 384,600 over the same period in 2016,” reads the document.
The survey has attributed this to the hosting of UNCTAD 14 and TICAD VI to the growth.
Departures destined for France and other European countries recorded the highest growths of 10.1 percent and 8.2 percent respectively.
On the contrary, departures to African destinations excluding Tanzania and Uganda decreased by 7.1 percent to 22,500 in 2016.
