Market Kenya aggressively to the world

Kenya was recently voted the best tourist destination in the world at the 22nd annual World Travel Awards (WTA) 2015. This is an accolade that cannot be taken lightly in view of the events of the last two years that threatened to kill the tourism industry.

After agriculture, tourism is the second largest foreign exchange earner, with an impressively consistent trend over the years despite the security challenges that the country faced in the last two tears. We recall that the country was subjected to sporadic terrorist attacks in Nairobi, Mandera, Garissa and the Coastal strip between 2013 and 2014.

The negative impact of advisories resulted in the closure of at least 40 hotels. In 2014, tourism earnings registered a 7.3 per cent drop from Sh94 billion to Sh87 billion.

Through the building of strong inter-regional ties, the Government has been able to not only bring back investors in the country, but also managed to revive the tourism industry. This year alone, Kenya has hosted some of the world’s major conferences that increase its appeal, making it more visible to the world. The Global Entrepreneurship Summit (2015), a visit by President Barrack Obama of the United States of America, the visit by Pope Francis and now the ongoing 10th World Trade Organisations Ministerial Conference point to the fact that Kenya is a beautiful country and we ought work on the goodwill to advance our economic interests.