Kenya Tourism Board on Friday urged Nigerians to visit the country for safari and other tourism adventure.
Mr Alex Tunoi, Marketing Manager, Kenya Tourism Board, made the call during the ‘Magical Kenya Roadshow’, held in Lagos, an event geared toward promoting tourism between Nigeria and Kenya.
Tunoi said that the roadshow was also organised to grow tourist arrivals to Kenya because of its enormous tourism potential.
“At the moment, we are receiving just about 35,000 tourist arrivals from Nigeria annually, we intend to grow that number by 10 per cent over the next couple of years.
“We have come with our trade partners like tour operators, hoteliers and more to develop packages for Kenya market.
“We are focusing on West Africa as part of our key source market to grow numbers of tourist arrivals. We noticed that Africans are beginning to travel and they are looking for new destinations to travel to.
“And we are here as Kenya to offer this opportunity. There are a lot of new development happening within the cities in Kenya, we can offer opportunities for shopping, golfing, safari, beach exploration and more.
“We are open for city adventure, the most patronised aspect of tourism in Kenya from Nigeria,” he said.
According to Tunoi, the Kenyan government has eased all travel restrictions to make the country more accessible to tourists.
He said that Kenya remains safe and affordable for all.
Also, Mr Consaga Khisa, Managing Director of Destination Connect, a tour company, said that Kenya had been declared a visa free destination for most African nations at the beginning of the year.
“We are here to foster relationships between Kenya tourism players and our partners in Nigeria.
“We welcome Nigerians to Kenya, our hotels and communication systems are of best standards, our airport transfer vehicles are fitted with wifi.
“We have the highest skating drills in Africa,” he said.
Mr Steve Biko, Regional Sales Manager, SAROVA Hotels and Resorts in Kenya, expressed readiness to host tourists during the 2024 edition of Magical Kenya, coming up later in the year.
“We are ready to accomodate tourists during Magical Kenya.
“It is very important that we capture the Nigerian market, we have lots of similarities culturally and it is time for Africa to use their culture to appreciate what each country has to offer.
“We are indigenous to Kenya, we will be celebrating the 50th anniversary of the hotel. We create experience customers will enjoy and we are focused on guest experience,” he said.
The Sales Manager, Kenya Airways, Mr Richard Matthews, said that the airline would soon increase its flight frequency to Nigeria.