Kenya’s Tourism Earnings Surge 32% to Sh116.2B

Kenya’s tourism sector earned Sh116.2 billion in revenue in the six-month period ending in June, boosted by an increase in arrivals.

According to the Kenya Tourism Board (KTB), this marked a 32 percent increase from Sh152.6 billion over a comparable period the previous year.

Arrivals increased from 642,861 to 847,810 over the review period at entry sites like the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) and Moi International Airport in Mombasa, among others.

“The tourism sector in Kenya experienced a remarkable upswing in international arrivals leading to a positive effect on the country’s tourism receipts,” KTB says in a new report.

“This performance is a 92% recovery when compared to 2019 performance of 929,814 arrivals same period.”

The majority of the 847,810 visitors (118,480) were from the United States, followed by Uganda (89,968), Tanzania (69,777), the United Kingdom (65,563), and India (42,805).

Holidays are the primary cause for the visits, followed by conferences and business meetings, outings to see family and friends, travel, educational opportunities, and religious reasons.

Covid-19 lockdown measures, such as flight bans and border closures that resulted in hotel closures, had an impact on local tourism.

Although not comparable to pre-coronavirus periods, the sector recovered in 2021 as a result of limitations being loosened.

“The tourism sector in Kenya experienced a remarkable upswing in international arrivals leading to a positive effect on the country’s tourism receipts,” KTB added.