Revenue from tourism in Kenya jumped nearly a third in 2023 over the previous year beating the pre-pandemic numbers, according to the tourism ministry.
Kenya has been a major tourist destination in East Africa traditionally attracting visitors from across the world to its wildlife parks and Indian Ocean beaches.
A ministry report seen by AFP on Sunday said revenue rose 31.5 percent last year to hit 352.5 billion shillings (nearly USD2.7 billion).
But per capita spending in dollar terms by the 1.95 million visitors fell.
“Despite the increase in the number of visitors in 2023 as compared to 2022, the average per capita expenditure in US dollars decreased significantly,” the report said.
The airline, whose biggest shareholder is the Kenyan government, also said in a statement that its loss after tax had reduced to almost 23 billion shillings from more than 38 billion shillings the year before. Total revenue for the year surged by 53 per cent to 178 billion shillings, which the airline attributed mainly to a 35 per cent growth in passenger numbers to 5.04 million, according to its audited results statement.
“This is partly attributed to the sustained depreciation of the Kenya shilling against the major currencies.”Before the coronavirus pandemic, tourism brought in about USD2.24 billion in 2019 from two million visitors, or about 10 percent of GDP.
Americans accounted for the largest number of 2023 arrivals at 265,310, followed by Ugandans (201,623), Tanzanians (157,818) and 156,700 from the United Kingdom.
The ministry hopes to welcome 2.4 million tourists this year.
In January, Kenya’s immigration services said the first batch of foreign tourists had arrived under a simplified “visa-free” entry system it hoped would encourage more visitors.
