The number of Chinese tourists visiting Kenya is set to double this year, the tourism marketing agency told Xinhua news yesterday.
Betty Radier, the Kenya Tourism Board chief executive, said that 2016 had seen around 69,000 Chinese tourists arrive in the country.
“We have experienced a spike in the number of Chinese visitors in Kenya for the first six months of 2017 and we are confident we could double last year’s number,” Radier said when KTB and the Kenya Wildlife Service signed a memorandum of understanding.
It has been a mixed-year so far for Kenya tourism, as recent news of a famed wildlife lodge that was forced to shut after uncontrollable wildlife killings and land invasions from local tribes, made the headlines.
However with an increase in the quality of infrastructure, and a change of tact for “luring” Chinese tourists to the East African Nation, the number of people visiting Kenya from the world’s second –largest economy is set to double in 2017.
Radier said that if the current trajectory for Chinese visitors continues, the Asian nation will be largest source market in three years. Currently, the number one source market is the U.S., followed by Britain, India and China.
“We have found out that we can’t treat the Chinese market, the same way we handle our traditional markets of the U.S. and Europe,” the CEO said.
The tourist marketing agency plans to increase its presence on the Chinese social media sites.
