The rise in tourist numbers had been partly bolstered by international airlines that had increased flights to Jomo Kenyatta International Airport in Nairobi and Moi International Airport in Mombasa between June and August.
International tourist arrivals around the world has hit 1.1 billion mark in 10 months to October this year, according to the UNWTO World Tourism Barometer. The figure is a seven per cent increase compared to similar period last year.
Locally, international tourist arrivals to Kenya rose 10 per cent to 723,000 visitors between January and September.
The rise in tourist numbers had been partly bolstered by international airlines that had increased flights to Jomo Kenyatta International Airport in Nairobi and Moi International Airport in Mombasa between June and August.
The surge in visitor numbers was also as a result of increased visits to Maasai Mara Game Reserve for the annual spectacle of wildebeest migration. Last year, Kenya got 1.3 million tourists, who spent Sh100 billion, a 17 per cent increase from Sh85 billion spent in 2015.
The strong tourism demand of the earlier months of 2017, including Northern Hemisphere summer peak season, was maintained through October.
Destinations worldwide received a total of 1,127 million international tourist arrivals (overnight visitors) in the first 10 months of the year, 70 million more than in the same period of 2016.
Results were driven by sustained growth in many destinations and a firm recovery in places that experienced a decline last year.
In particular, destinations in Southern and Mediterranean Europe, North Africa and the Middle East showed extraordinary rise.
Growth in international arrivals exceeded seven per cent in all destinations of Southern and Mediterranean Europe, with a rapid recovery seen in Turkey, and double-digit increases for most of the region’s other destinations.
In North Africa and the Middle East, Egypt, Tunisia and Palestine rebounded strongly from previous years’ declines, while Morocco, Bahrain, Jordan, Lebanon, and the United Arab Emirates all continued to report sustained growth.
“These robust results, the best we have seen in many years, reflect the sustained demand for travel around the world, in line with the improved global economy and the rebound of destinations that suffered declines in previous years,” said UNWTO secretary-general Taleb Rifai at the second UNWTO/Unesco meet in Oman.
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Note: The results are not exact but very close to the actual.
