State Department for Tourism Principal Secretary, John Ololtuaa, has expressed satisfaction with the increasing number of tourists visiting the country, describing the latest data as encouraging.
Speaking at the official opening of a tourism and security capacity-building workshop held at a Mombasa Hotel, Ololtuaa noted that reports from various tourism stakeholders indicate a significant and continuous rise in tourist arrivals.
He emphasised the positive impact of this growth on the tourism sector and the broader economy.
“As the tourism sector, we are indeed very happy because the number of visitors continue to grow. By the end of 2023, we had over 2 million tourists arriving in Kenya,” he divulged.
The workshop is focused on various objectives including, knowledge and skills to address safety issues, fostering collaboration among stakeholders in developing a comprehensive approach to tourism safety and security, sharing and learning from basic practices locally and internationally, and identifying potential risks and vulnerabilities in the tourism sector and to develop appropriate risk assessment and mitigation strategies.
However, the PS noted that the main objective of the workshop is to secure and showcase Kenya as a premium tourism destination, promoting the magical Kenya brand.
“We need to project Kenya as the destination to be and hence we need to focus on all aspects we need to improve in terms of security and peace so that we can transform the tourism sector.” Said the PS.
Furthermore, he stated that the government is focusing on critical areas that are expected to transform the tourism sector including the open skies policy, county-level infrastructure including the Diani-Malindi airport and the Dongo Kundu bypass as well as tourism infrastructure including the KICC and historical sites in restructuring the facilities to make them more hospitable to the visitors.
The PS said the Ministry of Transport is currently working closely with airlines to ensure that we have more direct flights coming into the country including the China-southern airline from Kenya to Nairobi, Air Brussels from Brussels to JKIA, KQ from Mombasa to Dubai and Malaysia air which is to commence soon.
On his hand, County Commissioner, Noor Mohammed stated that security is well maintained in Mombasa County citing that those involved in malicious activities have in past protests have been nabbed.
“We have managed to arrest at least 15 people who have been robbing and destroying people’s property during the Gen Z protests. We have been able to retrieve CCTV footage from the City Cameras and are working towards arresting all of them eventually. We cannot allow goons to destroy our beautiful city especially when Mombasa is a City that depends a lot on tourism. I want to assure our guests not to worry as the security team is on the radar.” Reiterated the County Commissioner.
By Nuru Soud
