Conference Tourism taking an Upward Trend

Tourism remains a key source of foreign exchange earnings in the country. Tourism earnings went down to Sh.84.6 billion in 2015 compared to Sh.87.1 billion in 2014. International visitor arrivals declined by 12.6 percent to 1,180.5 thousand in 2015.

The sector’s suppressed performance was mainly due to security concerns, particularly in the coastal region, and negative travel advisories from some European source markets. The aftermath of Ebola outbreak in West Africa in 2014 also slowed international visitor arrivals in 2015. In an effort to revive the sector, the Government increased budgetary allocation to the State Department of Tourism from Sh.5.6 billion in 2014/15 to Sh.10.7 billion in 2015/16, to among others, market Kenya as a preferred tourism destination.

Bed-nights occupancy decreased by 6.4 percent from 6,281.6 thousand in 2014 to 5,878.6 thousand in 2015. The number of local conferences held increased by 4.0 percent from 3,077 in 2014 to 3,199 in 2015. Although the number of international conferences contracted by 9.5 percent in 2015, Kenya played host to a number of high profile conferences including the 10th Ministerial World Trade Organization (WTO) Conference (MC10) and the Global Entrepreneurship Summit. Conference tourism is one of the rapidly growing segments in the tourism sector and is largely associated with travel for business purposes.  

The number of visitors to museums, snake parks and other historical sites went up by 15.4 percent to 797.5 thousand in 2015 compared to 690.9 thousand in 2014 while that of visitors to national parks and game reserves declined by 10.8 percent to 1,953.8 thousand in 2015.

Both visitor arrivals and tourism earnings have been on a downward trend since 2011 and this was mainly attributed to security concerns associated with terrorism activities. Tourism earnings declined further to Sh.84.6 billion in 2015 despite the high level events that took place in the country such as the 10th WTO Ministerial Conference, the visit by the US President and the Papal visit.

Article by Vera Shawiza.