Najib Balala (L), Kenyan Cabinet Secretary in the Ministry of Tourism and Wildlife and Ukur Yattani, acting Finance Cabinet Secretary display a copy of the 2019 Kenyan Tourism Sector Performance report during its launch in Nairobi, capital of Kenya, Jan. 10, 2020. (Xinhua/Charles Onyango)
Kenya plans to launch a tourism strategy to attract more Chinese visitors, a senior government official said on Friday. Kenya said it received about 84,000 Chinese visitors in 2019.
NAIROBI, Jan. 11 (Xinhua) -- Kenya plans to launch a tourism strategy in February to attract more Chinese visitors, a senior government official has said.
Najib Balala, cabinet secretary in the Ministry of Tourism and Wildlife, told Xinhua in Nairobi that in 2019, Kenya received approximately 84,000 Chinese visitors, a small proportion compared to the millions of outbound Chinese tourists.
"We want to target Chinese tourists strategically because we know they have the spending power, and they also have the ability to come to Africa," Balala said on the sidelines of the release of the Kenya tourism sector performance report on Friday.
Tourists visit the Lake Nakuru National Park, Kenya, Dec. 30, 2019. (Xinhua/Wang Teng)
According to the ministry of tourism, Africa has not benefited from the outbound Chinese tourism boom due to a lack of marketing efforts in the Asian nation.
"So it is up to Kenya to package its tourism products to Chinese consumers so that they will begin to visit our country in large numbers," he added.
Balala said that he will lead a Kenyan delegation to China in the next three months as part of efforts to execute the Chinese tourism strategy.
"I will visit the cities of Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou to market Kenya as a tourist destination for Chinese travelers," said Balala.
He said that Kenya has already implemented a number of measures to make it easier for Chinese nationals to visit the country including the visa on arrival policy. ■
