Kenya eyes Indian tourists from small cities

Kenya Tourism Board is organising travel trade interactions in tier II towns, such as Jaipur, Chandigarh and Lucknow to showcase the African country as an ideal tourist destination

Kenya, targetting over threefold increase in Indian tourist arrival in five years, is eyeing smaller cities  to achieve its goal.

The Kenya Tourism Board (KTB) is organising travel trade interactions in tier-II cities, such as Jaipur, Chandigarh and Lucknow, to showcase the country as an ideal tourist destination.

In this phase, the Board has selected about 10 cities in northern and western India.

In 2012, about 61,000 Indian tourists had travelled to Kenya, while it is now targetting 200,000 Indian tourists in five years.

India is the fourth largest source market for Kenya with seven per cent share till June 2013. Since 2009, India had registered growth of 68 per cent in the number of tourist arrivals.

“Almost 30 percent of Indians visit Kenya for business purposes, while the rest account for the leisure segment,” KTB marketing director Jacinta Nzoika Mbithi said here on Thursday.

She noted Kenya had large Indian diaspora and resident Indians had become an integral part of the Kenyan culture and history.

“A lot of Kenyans also visit India for varied purposes, including medical, business, cricket,etc,” she added.

Kenya with population of about 42 million has over time created a sustainable tourism market. Tourism accounts for a significant share in its Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP).

Mbithi said Kenya would continue to aggressively market tourism in India through initiatives, such as online training programmes, joint ventures and interactions with travel trade, cinema campaigns and media familiarisation trips.

Kenya uses both traditional and technological approach to protect nature and wildlife.