Kenya has received 7,440 tourists from cruise ships that have docked at the Mombasa port since the beginning of the year, Tourism Principal Secretary, John Olotuaa has said.
He said the refurbished Mombasa cruise terminal has supported a boom in the number of vessels calling on the port on their way to other destinations. The terminal’s capacity stands at over 140,000 passengers annually.
“This puts us in the right position to tap into this segment. As a destination, we believe we are on the right track to leveraging this opportunity,” added the PS while receiving tourists from MS Ambience, a cruise ship that docked with 1,100 passengers and 500 crew members on board.
“This will be the third cruise to call at the port of Mombasa since the beginning of the year, bringing a total of 7,440 cruise visitors to the destination. We expect more cruise arrivals before the end of the year,” said the PS.
The UK is Kenya’s second top source market for international visitors for Kenya. Last year, the UK accounted for 155,867 arrivals, translating to an eight percent market share.
Mr Olotuaa, said the docking of the cruise ships at the Mombasa port have raised Kenya’s profile in Africa.
“We commend the cruise management for including us in this particular itinerary,” he added.
In 2019, the global cruise industry had nearly 30 million passengers, creating 1.8 million jobs and contributing $154 billion to the world economy.
