Kenya's tourist amvals increase by 14 per cent

Visitors into Kenya increased by 14 per cent in the first four months of the year, signaling recovery 

of tourism industry which has faced a four-year slump over insecurity. 

Total international arrivals between January and April were 263,284 compared to 231 ,038 in the 

same period in 2015. 

Tourism Cabinet secretary Najib Balala yesterday attributed the growth to aggressive marketing, 

which has helped restore confidence among key international markets. 

"The government has invested heavily in security. Since the Garissa attack on April 2 last year, no 

other incident has happened. We are optimistic 2016 will be a good year," Balala said. 

During the period under review, Jomo Kenyatta International Airport recorded 13.6 per cent more 

visitors totaling 229,594, compared to 202,071 in 2015. Mombasa's Moi International Airport had 

31 ,810 visitors from 28,967, a 9.8 per cent growth. Arrival by sea (cruise ship) were 1,880. 

Balala, however, warned that the ongoing anti-IEBC protests are threatening the sector's recovery, 

which could rebound fully by 2018 in a peaceful environment. 

"The last two weeks we have sent shivers to the markets. All the efforts I have done to reassure 

people that Kenya is safe are going to waste. Political instability and lack of understanding is going 

to kill our industry," Balala said. 

"If we continue with images of lyres burning, people getting shot, it is not going to be good for our 

economy. We can decide and behave well or misbehave in the name of democracy and lose," he 

added. 

The government has been on a charm offensive to win back international markets which dropped 

as a result of insecurity, mainly caused by al Shabaab terror group. Balala said the ministry will 

invest heavily in traditional markets among them the UK, the US and India to grow numbers. The 

ministry has been allocated Sh4 billion in the 2016-17 budget. "This year we have the best 

budget," The CS said. 

KTB acting CEO Jacinta Nzioka sard the marketing body is working with tour operators and 

airlines to market the country. 

International arrivals dropped last year to 1.18 million from 1.35 million in 2014, a 12.6 per cent 

contraction. Tourism earnings decreased to Sh84.6 million last year from Sh87.l billion in 2014, 

the Economic Survey 2016 shows. The number of visitors to Kenya was 1.5 million in 2013, 1.7 

million in 2012, and 1.8 million in 2011. 




Response: Thisarticle talks about the rise in tourism in Kenya. 

This is something that is super beneficial for Kenya and even other areas of the world because of the
many nationalities that visit Kenya. Tourism is the main source of income and
support for Kenya. The reason that this growth of tourism is even being
discussed is that there was a major decrease in tourism after the Westgate mall
attack. This article does seem to have a bias towards Najib Balala, the tourism
cabinet secretary, as they cited his comments multiple times. Overall, this
article, and the statistics used in it, are hopeful for Kenya and many other
countries too.
Citation:Mwita, Martin. "Kenya’s Tourist Arrivals Increase by 14 per Cent." The Star Kenya. The Star, 7 

June 2016. Web. 8 June 2016. 

<http://www.the-star.co.ke/news/2016/06/07/kenyas-tourist-arrivals-increase-by-14-per-cent_c1364470>.