Tourist arrivals down in first half

Tourism CS Najib Balala (PHOTO: FILE)

NAIROBI, KENYA: Kenya has so far received 927,797 tourists since January 2019.

Tourism and Wildlife Cabinet Secretary Najib Balala said that the arrivals however represent a decline of 1.34 per cent on arrivals as compared to 2018.

In 2018, the country earned Sh157 billion from the sector compared to sh 119.9 billion in 2017 respectively.

Balala said that the latest tourism figures are encouraging.

''I urge all of you to continue to put more efforts to ensure that we surpass our last year’s general performance at the end of the year,'' Balala said.

He challenged industry players to work together to start implementing National Tourism Blueprint (NTB) 2030,  developed by the Tourism and Wildlife Ministry to redirect the tourism sector by focusing on the four key pillars that include product, marketing , investment and infrastructure.

''These are expected to drive the sector to greater heights. It is thus prudent to engage all key stakeholders to work together to realise sustainable tourism development in the country,'' the CS said.

In the meantime, players in the tourism industry in the larger South Coast are appealing to the government to complete the expansion of the Ukunda's Diani Airport, construct new airport terminal within the shortest time possible.