Affordable airline fares and the recent introduction of a new e-visa system for GCC travellers, have made the East African country a value-for-money destination of choice for UAE tourists.
According to figures released by the Kenya Tourism Board (KTB), a total of 24,462 people visited Kenya from the UAE between January and June 2015, compared to 13,782 in 2014.
The UAE now holds 7 per cent of Kenya’s total tourist market share, up from 3.2 per cent in 2014, making the UAE Kenya’s third largest source market for tourism in the world, behind the UK and USA.
“The UAE is an emerging market for us and our strategy in place to market Kenya to GCC market is bringing the results we all wanted and expected. It has also made us a tourist destination in the region, and we saw this with the increase in tourist figures, which we see increasing more and more. We expect further growth from this market following our recently launched marketing campaign dubbed ‘Choose Kenya’ to woo tourists from the GCC countries,” says Muriithi Ndegwa, KTB managing director.
Ndegwa added that the increase in tourism numbers was also spurred by the recovery from insecurity as compared to last year as well as the drop in Ebola infections in West Africa, which boosted the visitor’s confidence in the region and particularly in Kenya.
The fifth edition of Magical Kenya Travel Expo and more than four other International events meant to be held in Kenya later this year are also expected to put Kenya at the forefront of tourist destinations for Gulf residents.
Kenya is around four and a half hours away from the UAE by flight and direct services are currently offered by Kenya Airways, Emirates, Etihad, Air Arabia and RwandAir.
Located in East Africa, Kenya has 59 national parks and game reserves and is world-famous for the annual wildebeest migration that takes place in the Masai Mara National Game Reserve between July and October.