Kenya gets chance to co-sponsor World Cup

Johannesburg is one of its key routes and the airline had increased frequencies on the route this year to meet demand.

The airline also holds rights to fly directly to Cape Town, but does not.

Kenya Airways will also benefit from day passengers who choose to stay in Kenya and take the return four -hour flight to watch a match .

Players in the tourism sector have been trying to attract traffic into the country before and after matches.

“We are trying to entice them to come this way and enjoy the country on their way to or from South Africa,” said Mr Fred Kaigua, the chief executive of Kenya Tour Operator Association (Kato).

His organisation is positioning itself to design packages for those visiting the country on World Cup packages.

The Minister for Youth Affairs and Sports, Prof Hellen Sambili, launched the steering committee in September. It is chaired by the permanent secretary, Mr James Waweru.

The committee comprises people from both the public and private sector, including Kenya Airways, Kenya Wildlife Service, Media Owners’ Association, Kenya Tourist Board and Brand Kenya, among others.

Its role is to market the country as a training venue for teams before they move to the host country.

Kenya is also aggressively looking at attracting at least two teams, including the South African national team , Bafana Bafana, to practice here.

“Yes, we have met with them and they told us about trying to get the national team here,” said Mr Thulani Nyembe, political counsellor at the South Africa High Commission.

Kenya has managed to get Cameroon to visit for friendly match and has been meeting with the ambassadors of other qualified countries to sell the country, Mr Benjamin Sogomo, the chief executive officer of Stadia Management and secretary of the committee, said.

The world cup will start on June 11, 2010 and run for a month and is seen as a major opportunity for the continent to help build its image.

Mr Sogomo also noted that the ongoing wrangles between Football Kenya Limited (FKL) and Kenya Football Federation (KFF) is not expected to interfere with the LOC proposal as this is a business proposal.