The country is targeting a $2 US trillion (about Sh300 trillion) African-American tourism market through a new plan launched in Nairobi last week.
The initiative dubbed “call to action” is an elaborate plan by Traverze Culture founder and Chief Executive Officer Ms. Kea Wakesho Simmons from Charleston South Carolina, United States.
The plan seeks to reconnect African Americans with their African cultural heritage through various immersion like naming ceremonies and cultural adoption.
It targets to bring between 3000 and 5000 visitors in 2024 to tour Kenya, invest and settle in a new estate christened the Gitu Freedom Estate in Thika, Kiambu County, under the auspices of The Journey Back to Eden.
The estate located 60 Kilometres north of Nairobi will offer a modern African living experience for both the African American returnees and Kenyans.
The group seeks to entice the African-American population in the US over the ancestry link dating about 700 years ago and plans to complete the Thika City project in the next five years.
Investors will have access to various modern amenities like schools, hospitals and shopping malls.
Speaking during a guided tour of the Mombasa Old Town for a group of African Americans Ms. Simmons said the trip has acted as an eye opener for many visitors who plan to invest in various sectors of the Kenyan economy such as real estate and the hospitality industries.
“The call to action will revolutionize the Kenya tourism and travel market. We shall work with both the public and private sectors to realize the dream of bringing to Kenya 3000 visitors in 2024,” said Ms. Simmons.
Simmons was accompanied by other American tourists and investors Mr Michael Wright, Mr Troy Batiste and Ms. Tecia Liocola among others who expressed their interest in investing in Kenya. Mr Wright said he was interested in extending his manufacturing and export and import business into Kenya citing a good investment climate and hospitable people.
“I am visiting Kenya for the second time and I am planning to extend my business to this country because of the ease of doing business,” he said.
During their 12-day visit to Kenya, the group toured various tourism and cultural spots like Diani Beach, Old Town in Mombasa, Nairobi National Park, the Nubian community in Kibra and the upcoming Gitu Freedom Estate in Kiambu County.
Traverze Culture also organized a call-to-action conference and the Noir Fashion Week at the Holiday Inn Hotel at Two Rivers in Nairobi where various African-themed designs were on display from Kenya and the US Diaspora.
The call-to-action plan is part of a major plan to reach out to the middle-class African-American market by the Kenyan government.
According to US official statistics, the black community in the US has a population of more than 40 million people representing about 13 percent of the total US population of 333 million people.
According to research by Wells Fargo, the average net worth of black households jumped more than $340,000 (about Sh53 million) in 2023 marking an increase of more than 32 per cent compared to 2022.
Through the North American Trade and Tourism plan, the Kenyan government is targeting to increase the number of Americans visiting Kenya to more than one million by the year 2027.
In 2022, more than 200,000 Americans visited Kenya, out of the 1.4 million tourists who toured the nation. This represented 16 per cent of all visitors to Kenya in 2022. Ms. Simmons, who has been in Kenya for the last 12 years, called for more state incentives to help drive the plan to triple the number of African Americans visiting Kenya by 2027.
“We need the government to partner with us in deepening the Journey back to Eden which seeks to market Kenya as a ripe trade and tourism market for the black community in the United States.”
Traverze Culture is the premier tours, cultural and travel company in the US, helping the black community to visit and settle in Africa, with more focus on East Africa.
Ms. Simmons is a thought leader in this market segment, with experience in the US Army and as a Civilian contractor in Afghanistan with close to 15 years of experience.
By Sadik Hassan
