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2012 Tourism in Kenya
This year has been
a rocky ride for tourism in Kenya. The year started
fantastic with tremendous increases of visitors from the Far East
and even a Russian tour operator, Pegas Touristik launched
weekly direct flights from Moscow to Kenya.
The U.S.
embassy advised against travel to Mombassa after an
isolated attack in Mombassa.
This spells an unfortunate "economic sabotage" in a city
reliant upon tourism. Kenya tourism had only just recovered
from the kidnapping on the Somali border and grenades
in Nairobi earlier this year. The Somali militant group
al-Shabab has vowed to stage terrorist attacks on Kenyan
territory.
However, there is
an upsides for tourists. Firstly consider this. The
attacks in Kenya have been very amateurish with no
sophistication and can hardly cause more danger than
mosquitoes for tourists. Unless you go on Safari along the Somali
border, which would be foolish anyway.
As destinations go these days, spending endless days
of relaxing on beautiful beaches or exploring the greatest
experience of a lifetime on Safari in Kenya is a pretty
safe holiday. Add the fact that flights, holidays and
hotels are going to be a lot cheaper and the marvelous
exchange rate, Kenya can be very affordable and a lot
more attractive in cost to other destinations.
2011 Tourism Figures for Kenya
The total number of inbound
travelers to Kenya in 2011 reached 1,265,136, an impressive
15.4% increase from 2010. Additionally, Kenya received
520,246 cross-border arrivals over the same period.
By the close of 2011, more than 87% of source markets
recovered fully and surpassed 2010 levels. This number
also surpassed the predicted 1.2 million visitors to
the country. Top 5 Tourist Arrivals to Kenya 2011:
1. The United Kingdom: 203,290
2. United States: 119,615
3. Italy: 96,360
4. Germany: 68,737
5. India: 58,986
Estimated tourism receipts in 2011 closed at Kshs 97.9
Billion (USD approximately $1.2 Billion). This showed
a significant increase of 32.9% compared to the Kshs
73.7 Billion from 2010 (USD approximately $890 Million).
Leisure travel was the main purpose for travel into Kenya
in 2011, registering 71.3% of all arrivals. The majority
of US travelers, 67%, reported leisure as their main
purpose for travel to Kenya in 2011, while an additional
15% traveled to visit friends and relatives.
Top three arrivals for business were South Africa,
UK and the US.
2010 Tourism Figures
UK (113,747)16%, US (75,000)10%,
Italy (54,885)7.8%, Germany (37,185)5.3%, France (33,801)4.8%,
Uganda (19,800)2.8%, Netherlands (20,150)2.9%, Tanzania
(19,683)2.8%, South Africa (20,140)3.0%, India (23,648)4.5%,
Canada (17,708)2.4%, China (11,751)2.8%, Australia
(9,681)1.6%, Switzerland (13,440)1.4%, Spain (10,643)1.4%,
UAE (5,608)1.2%, Sweden (6,564)1.1%, Belgium (9,055)1.2%,
Japan (9,118)1.0%, Denmark
(6,638)0.9%, Norway (5,278)0.8%, Austria (7,932)0.7%,
Poland (2,923)0.8%, Finland
(1,868)0.3%, Russia (1,950)0.4%, Czech Republic (2,894)0.4%,
Hungary (2,211)0.2%, Brazil (1,119)0.1%, Mexico (727)0.1% |