We are focusing on attracting 50,000 Nigerians to visit Kenya – Josephine Mbela, KTB
Josephine Mbela, Assistant Deputy Director, Domestic and Africa, Kenya Tourism Board has disclosed that Nigeria is one of the key markets that the country intend to grow her numbers.
Speaking at the recently concluded Akwaaba African Travel Market in Lagos, Mbela said the Kenyan Tourism Board decided to come to Akwaaba in Nigeria because this year, the country is focusing on attracting at least 50,000 Nigerians to visit Kenya.
She disclosed that Kenya generated about $20 billion in 2023, stressing that tourism is the country’s number two source market after agriculture.
Mbela disclosed further that the projection for this year is to grow tourism receipts by 10%.
According to her, Last year, we received 32,000 Nigerians who visited Kenya and this time, we are looking at about 50, 000. Most of the come for tourism, some come for MICE, some are coming for education, because we realize we have quite a number of students from Nigeria who are schooling in Kenya. Some also come for medical tourism.
The Assistant Deputy Director of Kenya Tourism Board stated that this number is not only for holiday or safari that the country is known for, but also honeymoon, adventure, staycation and family destination.
Mbela said her team are in Akwaaba because it’s a platform that has been created for all African countries and the world to come and showcase what they have.
She explained that : “With me, I have five partners, Kenya Airways, which is our national carrier and is the one we want to use to propel visitors from Nigeria, they can get direct flight to Nairobi. The other of our Hotel Partner is the Pride Inn Hotel. It is one of our key hotels that have footprints in Nairobi, Masai Mara and many other major tourist attractions within Kenya. We also have two Destination Marketing Company (DMC), Silverbird and Incentive Travel, who have also joined, they have come to showcase our magical Kenya brand”.
She explained further that visa now is an ETA, “which is very easy for you to get. Initially we used to charge you 50 dollars to come to Kenya, now it has been brought down to about 39 USD.
Once you apply online, within 72 hours, you are able to get an approval and you receive your stamp on arrival. So it is very easy now, it is not as complicated. I know a lot of Nigerians have told me that it is very hard to get a visa in Kenya, but trust me, it is very seamless and a lot of people are not complaining now”.
She noted that Kenya Tourism has special rates for Nigerians as an African market.
In the words of Mbela: “We have special rates for you. I can’t say that they are specifically tailored for Nigerians, but when you are coming to our national parks, we have rates for Africans, because we want to open Africa”.
She continued that : “Remember, this is our black dollar. We used to invest a lot in the European market, American market, but right now, this financial year, we are focusing on Africa and we have put a lot of strategies and campaigns to attract fellow Africans to visit Kenya. For instance, this year, in February, we had a West Africa Roadshow and we brought in about 12 companies from Kenya to come and support the National Association of Nigeria Travel Agencies (NANTA) members.
So we had a roadshow in Abuja and also in Lagos and we trained about 500 travel agents to really understand what we offer and also create a platform for them to work with our fellow tour operators”.
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