CS Balala pitches camp at Fitur fair in Madrid for Kenya's tourism

Tourism CS Najib Balala (right) and United Nation World Tourism Organisation Secretary Zurab Pololikashvili (left) during the ongoing International Tourism Fair in Spain. (Maarufu Mohamed, Standard)

Tourism and Wildlife Cabinet Secretary , Mr Najib Balala  is using the international platform at the Fitur 2019 , largest  tourism fair for inbound and outbound  Ibero- American markets to root for travel to Kenya.

This is in the wake of last week’s deadly terror attacks at the Dusit Hotel Complex, Nairobi where 21 people lost their lives and several others suffered injuries.

Fitur facilitates exchanges between tourism suppliers and industry leaders from around the world.

It also displays hotels, tourist boards, destination management companies, tour operators, airlines and other segments related to the travel industry.

'' I used the occasion to tell the global travel world that Kenya shone brightly when it confronted head on terrorists involved in the attack , wiped  them out in a swift operation and ensured that despite loss of innocent lives, normalcy returned,'' Balala in an interview with The Standard said.

Balala said that Kenya had shown the world that it remained more resilient in the wake of terror attacks and that security agencies acted professionally in handling the attack leading to much global acknowledgement.

The CS said that Kenya was moving ahead with key strategies to grow its tourism fortunes and was key to have innovation and change the way tourism works.

'' We are also keen to embrace collaborative approach where all destination must share knowledge on tourism as we seek to grow intra -boundary trade across the globe with tourism playing a key part,'' he said.

Balala at the sametime said that government facilitation remained key to a more sustainable tourism growth.

According to Fitur organizers, last year’s event saw 10,190 exhibiting companies from 165 countries/regions, 140,120 trade participants and 110,860 people from the general public, who participated in 6,800 business appointments.

As a key partner, the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) uses the staging of FITUR to host a series of tourism-related activities in which Minister Bartlett has been invited to participate.

Those attending Fitur 2019 also host business meetings with Spanish investors, tour operators, airline representatives and other industry partners.