Photos: Eliud Kipchoge, CS Balala tour Nairobi National Park

World Marathon Record holder Eliud Kipchoge and Tourism and Wildlife Cabinet Secretary Najib Balala [photo courtesy]

World Marathon Record holder Eliud Kipchoge and Tourism and Wildlife Cabinet Secretary Najib Balala on Friday morning toured the Nairobi National Park for a game drive.

The tour comes four months after Tourism and Wildlife Cabinet Secretary Najib Balala reiterated his ministry’s commitment to continue leveraging on promoting Sports Tourism.

Eliud Kipchoge gifts Balala the shoe he used to run under two hours in Vienna, Austria [photo courtesy]

Late last year, the Kenya Tourism Board (KTB) handed a destination ambassadorial role to Eliud Kipchoge, to promote Kenya’s tourism both locally, regionally and internationally.

World Marathon Record holder Eliud Kipchoge and Tourism and Wildlife Cabinet Secretary Najib Balala [photo courtesy]

The Ministry of Tourism in collaboration with the Ministry of Sports, are targeting to fully exploit the untapped sports industry; sports tourism (sports following and fame of sports personalities) to achieve their aim of reviving the economy as the world continues to grapple with the coronavirus pandemic.

Standard Sports Editor Robin Toskin with World Marathon Record holder Eliud Kipchoge [photo courtesy]

The tourism industry, which was targeting to generate Sh189 billion in 2020/21 Sh22 billion more than what they collected in 2019, is among the worst-hit sector by the pandemic, losing Sh80 billion between February and June 2020.

Inside Nairobi National Park [photo courtesy]