Kenya: Tanzania dethrons US as Kenya’s top tourism source market

Tanzania surpassed the US as Kenya’s top tourism source market in September, driven by its lower Covid-19 blocking measures, new data shows.

Rising virus cases have hampered arrivals from the world’s largest economy after many countries, including Kenya, categorized American travelers as high-risk for Covid-19. This has forced many of them to cancel or postpone their trips indefinitely.

This comes at a time when the total US infection, which is the highest globally, exceeds 10 million with more than 200,000 deaths.

Unlike the US, Tanzania imposed small restrictions amid a warning of economic impact on its citizens, as well as the recently concluded presidential elections that saw President John Magufuli re-elected for the second term.

SIGNIFICANT LEAP

The latest data from the Tourism Research Institute (TRI) shows that the United States is behind Tanzania at number three.

This is a significant jump from August, when the country could not even appear in the top 30 source markets for visitors to Kenya.

“Tanzania leads with 4,309 followed by Uganda (3,812) and the United States (3,458),” the data shows.

Uganda also jumped from position three in August to second in September.

South Africa (68), the Philippines (70), Ghana (83), Spain (95), Swaziland (110), Turkey (155), Norway (167) and Pakistan (176) are countries where some tourists visited Kenya.

As a sign of a recovery path following the resumption of local and international flights in August, September arrivals increased to 85.2% from 14,049 in August to 26,018.

In March, Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta imposed a curfew from dusk to dawn (7 am to 5 am) and banned international and local passenger flights. The president also restricted movement in Mombasa, Nairobi, Kilifi and Kwale counties to contain the spread of the virus.

EMPLOYMENT LOSSES

The directive affected Kenya’s travel, tourism and hospitality industries. Consequently, many companies closed, leaving hundreds without work.

The data places the purpose of visits such as meetings, incentives, conferences and exhibitions at 44.96 percent, visits to family and friends at 29.90 percent, vacations at 16.50 percent and in transit by 5.40 percent.

“Others are doctors (1.61 percent), education (0.97 percent), religion (0.53 percent) and sports (0.13 percent),” the data shows.

Earlier this year, Kenya’s Tourism Cabinet Secretary Najib Balala said the ministry would, for the first time, release data on tourist travel and arrivals each month as the sector slowly reopens after a closure of five months.

“The data released is invaluable for the country as it helps us track international tourist numbers to determine whether tourism and travel are improving from easing travel restrictions and resuming international flights to country, “he said.

The weekly international flights scheduled to Kenya for Qatar Airways and Ethiopian Airlines were 14 each, RwandAir (12), Emirates (seven) and British Airways (four).

Others are Swiss (four), EgyptAir (four), Turkish Airlines (five), Air Arabia (two) and Uganda Airlines (seven), according to the data.

Kenya Airways’ weekly flight to Dubai runs at nine, Johannesburg (six), London (three), Paris and Amsterdam (two) and Lagos (two).

“Others include Kigali (seven a week), Dar es Salaam (seven a week), Juba (seven a week) and Addis Ababa (five a week),” it shows.

CAUSES STRONG

This comes when at least 92.4 percent of Kenyan tour operators have lost 75 percent of the bookings they normally get during this time of year, as the Covid-19 pandemic wreaks havoc on the travel industry. world tourism.

According to African Safari Company, SafariBooking.com, only 1.2% of them did not register a three-quarter drop in bookings.

According to the report, “71.5 percent of operators responding to our survey said that cancellations had increased by at least 75 percent on existing bookings. Less than four percent said everything was going as usual.” .

The survey, which was conducted in August, involved 344 tour operators in Kenya, Botswana, Tanzania, South Africa and Uganda.

In June, Balala said that the tourism industry lost 80 billion shillings ($ 800 million) in the first six months of the year amid the adverse effects of Covid-19.

The Cabinet secretary said the sector, which contributed about 10 percent of GDP, was on its knees mainly due to the ban on international flights and movement restrictions that have affected domestic tourism.

“The coronavirus started in December 2019 and we have lost almost 80 billion ksh in revenue. This equates to almost half of the revenue we had in the last financial year,” Balala said.

Kenya’s tourism revenue rose 3.9 percent to Ksh163.6 billion ($ 1.6 billion) last year, as arrivals defied terrorist threats and global geopolitics to stay above the two mark. million last year.

Earnings improved from Ksh157.4 billion ($ 1.5 billion) in 2018, but were slower than the previous year.

To revive the sector, Balala called on investors to embrace the domestic market, adding that international tourism will only recover towards the end of 2021.

He challenged domestic market players to set the correct prices for their products, noting that low prices discouraged Kenyans from purchasing the sector’s products.

“Domestic tourism is price sensitive. Why charge a local tourist $ 300 (Ksh30,000) to visit Maasai Mara and still use the same amount to go to Dubai?” sediment.