More tourists heading to Kenya

The Kenya Tourist Board has released some encouraging figures showing a sharp rise in tourists visiting the country. Monies earned through tourism in September were 18% higher than last year, with a total of $743 million being left behind by travellers. Last September the tally was $623 million.

The numbers match directly with an increase in consolidated arrivals as well, which show an increase of over 8%, with 1.34 million people in 2007 over 2006s count of 1.24 million.

Ongong Achieng, director of the Kenya Tourism Board says, “It is important to note that earnings up to September 2007 have already surpassed the total annual earnings of 2006 which stood at 48.9 billion shillings. Following the demand dynamics being observed in the market, wehave revised our projection in earnings to 20 percent. We therefore predict tourism earnings to reach 62 billion shillings.”

So who exactly is coming? Achieng says that there have been significant rises in visitors from Great Britain, France, Germany and the United States.