The Ministry of Tourism has stepped up campaigns to woo back visitors from key source markets of the United Kingdom, Italy, Germany, France and Spain.
Tourism secretary Najib Balala says that ministry officials and the Kenya Tourism Board (KTB) have held negotiations with leading tour operators and travel agents in a marketing effort whose target is to increase tourist arrivals by about 20 per cent in the next high season which begins mid-July.
“Since January we have been meeting travel and tourism players from the key European markets to inform them about the raft of incentives the government is offering for them to bring more tourists to the country,” he said.
“We told them about the Sh1.2 billion charter incentive programme, the reduction of park entry fees from $90 to $60 per visitor, the waiving of visa fee for children below 16 years, among others.”
Kenya’s tourism industry has suffered a huge setback in the past three years following terror attacks that triggered damaging travel warnings by governments of the key source countries.
“Tour operators from the European markets have responded positively by promising to bring more holidaymakers in the coming high season,” said Mr Balala.
On Monday the government signed a contract with an Italian chartered airline Meridiana Fly to fly tourists to Mombasa while in return the airline would enjoy the charter flight incentives that were launched last year.
In the deal, Meridiana Fly will be enjoying a $30 (Sh3,000) subsidy for every passenger who terminates at the Moi International Airport, Mombasa.
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