Number of tourists to Kenya drops by 19 pct in 2015: official

The number of tourists visiting Kenya declined year-on-year by 19 percent to 1.18 million in 2015 due to insecurity in resort areas, an official said on Monday.

"Holiday was the key reason of travel into Kenya as it contributed 71 percent of the total arrivals," Tourism Cabinet Secretary, Najib Balala, told journalists in Nairobi.

According to Balala, of all the visitors to Kenya in 2015, those doing business accounted for 12 percent, while those visiting friends and relatives were eight percent.

Kenya's tourism has suffered a decline in the number of tourists since September 2011 when the Somali militant group, Al-Shabaab, kidnapped tourists in the Lamu archipelago.

Balala said that in 2015, almost all of Kenyan tourism's traditional source markets registered a decline in arrivals.

Visitors from Britain, which is Kenya's largest source of tourists, declined by 15.9 percent in 2015, while tourists from India declined by 9.5 percent.

Italy recorded the sharpest decline in 2015 with only 33,415 Italians having visited Kenya compared to 51,092 in 2014, representing a 34.6 percent decline.

Revenue from the industry for 2015 declined by 13 percent to 861.6 million U.S. dollars, according to the official.

Despite the falling numbers, Balala expressed optimism that international markets had begun to warm up to Kenya as a result of the country's aggressive campaigns, which got a boost after tourism was given a stand-alone ministry in November 2015.

Kenya has introduced a raft of measures to reverse the decline of the tourism sector, which has seen a third year of slump as a result of insecurity.

"Entry fees into game parks have also being reduced while the Value Added Tax on park entry fees will be scrapped from next month," Balala said. Endit