The government announced plans to increase earnings by Ksh425.4 billion by December 2023, a report released by the Tourism Research Institute revealed.
According to Tourism Cabinet Secretary Peninah Malonza, the government seeks to capitalise on cruise tourism, sports & culture tourism, and adventure tourism to increase earnings.
"My department will focus more on domestic and regional tourism promotion," she added.
Her remarks were backed by the report released on Wednesday, February 22, which disclosed that 641,975 tourists were from within Africa in the country for business as well as visiting friends.
In the report titled Annual Tourism Sector Performance Report 2022, the CS noted a significant increase in the number of tourists flying into the country since 2020 when the world was battling the pandemic.
"The nearly 1.5 million visitors arrived in Kenya for different purposes, with visitors on holiday leading at 36.6 per cent followed by those visiting friends and family at 27.8 per cent of the total. Visitors on business and MICE took third position with 27.2 per cent of the total visitation," the CS announced.
She added that the landings in Kenya's airports increased by 38 per cent to 62, 000 in 2022 with the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) registering the highest growth of 44 per cent.
On raising the earnings, the report detailed that to nurture cruise tourism, the country can improve the quality of the beach experience and diversify beach activities.
Additionally, despite sports and culture tourism being ranked the lowest in 2022, the report detailed that there was potential to grow the area. It gave an example of the World Rally Championship (WRC) Safari Rally during its debut in 2021.
"The Kenyan unique landscapes offer a huge potential to develop adventure tourism. Kenya should leverage on this and develop adventure tourism resorts near major adventure spots such as Mt. Kenya," read the report in parts.
Activities like zip lining and scuba diving were listed as great attractions for adventure tourism.
Tourism is one of Kenyan's largest sources of revenue with tourists flocking to the country to enjoy the coast region and the wildlife safaris.
According to the Kenya Tourism Satellite Account, the sector accounts for 10.4 per cent of the country's GDP, 5.5 per cent of Kenya's formal employment, and contributes to 4.2 per cent of the National Gross Fixed Capital Formation.
