Kenya eyes 1 bln USD in tourism revenues this year

Kenya said on Wednesday that it expects to earn 1 billion U.S. dollars in revenue from tourism this year, citing a raft of incentives which have been put in place to boost visitor arrivals.

Tourism Cabinet Secretary Najib Balala said the tourism sector garnered 470 million U.S. dollars in revenues in the last six months, adding that things are looking up as the sector moves into the high season.

"Overall, we are seeing some progress in the sector. Our focus is full recovery by June 2018," Balala said during the State House Tourism Summit held in Mombasa.

The summit brought together stakeholders from across the country to dialogue on ways to boost growth of the industry.

The tourism industry has been on the increase since November last year following the arrival of several cruise ships at the Mombasa Port.

Kenya plans to share some of the recent government incentives it has initiated as part of the sector's recovery to attract more visitors.

Balala said the government has focused on improving security, infrastructure and marketing in its plan to invigorate the industry. "These are key enablers that will accelerate the recovery of the tourism sector."

He added that the budget for tourism marketing and promotion has more than doubled from 6.1 million U.S. dollars last year to 15 million dollars this year. Endit