Nigerian online platform endorses Kenya as safe destination

Nairobi; Kenya: Leading Africa travel website news publisher, Ikechi Uko of atqnews.com from Nigeria has endorsed Kenya as a safe place to visit.

Mr Uko who led a delegation of Nigerian tour operators to fourth edition of the Magical Kenya Travel Expo (MKTE) at the Kenyatta International Convention Centre (KICC) said that Kenya is secure and cannot be compared to other destinations.

“Our trip to the Kenyan Coast defeated stories about this region being unsafe. We are not watching our backs. We in the Nigerian party feel safe and are enjoying every bit of it here,” he told The Standard on Saturday at the Leopard Beach Resort &Spa, Diani in South Coast, Kwale County.

Other tour operators were from Ghana, German speaking countries of Switzerland, Austria and Germany itself and Brazil. The trip to Diani, voted this year as Africa’s leading beach destination by the prestigious World Travel Awards, was organised by Kenya Tourism Board (KTB).

Uko said his team was particularly impressed with the standards of maintenance and in particular the designs at the hotel’s new residence section which has family unit set ups that are best suited for family and group accommodations.

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“Mombasa and the Kenyan Coast is still the crown and jewel of tourism in Kenya. You have a very vital asset in the people’s hospitable nature making it a big plus anywhere in the world,” he said. He added that Kenya’s hospitable nature go along way in enhancing the value of the local tourism product. He, however, challenged Kenyans to rise up to the occasion and work more to integrate with the rest of Africa.

Abundant resources

“The real future of the success of Kenya lies in Africa which has abundant resources that needs to be utilised well for the mutual benefit of all in this region,” he said. Leopard Beach Resort & Spa Management Consultant and Project Manager, Chris Modigell and Resorts Operations Manager, Ms Ann Safari paid tribute to hotel staff for showing dedication and team work that saw them scoop the award of best beach spa in Africa.

Kwale County Tourism and ICT Promotion Executive Adan Sheikh said they were excited as a county to host the group of travel and tour operators from Africa , Europe and the Americas at a time when the county had just been bestowed with the honour of best African beach destination and leading spa hotel in Leopard Beach Resort & Spa.

“We take great exception and applaud stakeholders in the tourism tourism for this rare feat of achievement in the global awards that have catapulted our county to the next level. We are confident that investors will line up to set business here and are ready to welcome them to boost our local economy,’’ Sheikh said.

Sheikh announced that Kwale County government had taken into consideration the dwindling fortunes in the tourism industry and had seen it best not to levy more charges on tourism operations until a time when the industry improves.

Travel advisories

In the meantime, the German market has remained resilient in the wake of low international arrivals occasioned by travel advisories imposed by key source markets like UK, Australia and US over insecurity.

KTB Marketing Development Representative in charge of the German market Guido Burger said Germany has continued to have the highest number of repeat guests to Kenya at any given time. “We have seen an average of well above 50 per cent of German tourists travel to Kenya , mostly repeater guests who have also been recomending others to travel here .There has , however been a general decrease in numbers in this year but above all the German speaking countries have maintained above average arrival numbers,’’ Burger said.