African Tourists fuels Kenya’s Tourism Sector Recovery

Tourists from Africa are the driving force for Kenya’s tourism sector recovery as intra-regional travel expands, a government official said Wednesday.

Peninah Malonza, cabinet secretary in the Ministry of Tourism, Wildlife and Heritage, said in Nairobi, the capital of Kenya, that Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda, Ethiopia, Nigeria, and Ghana are emerging as significant source markets for the country’s tourism industry.

“African countries’ performance is a testament to the vast untapped potential within our East African region and Africa as a whole,” Malonza said during a media briefing on the upcoming third East Africa regional tourism expo in Kenya that is scheduled to take place from Nov. 20 to 22.

According to the ministry, tourism is one of Kenya’s leading sources of foreign exchange alongside diaspora remittances, horticulture, and tea exports.

The three-day travel trade fair will bring together more than 200 domestic, regional, and international tour operators, travel agents, destination agencies, and various other players in the tourism trade to network and facilitate the tourism business.