Kenya Tourism Board CEO June Chepkemei

Sports organisers and travel trade operatives are rooting for joint initiatives to promote sports as a key driver of tourism in Kenya.

Kenya Tourism Board (KTB) chief executive officer, June Chepkemei revealed Kenya is recording low visitor arrivals in sports-related events having had only 4,600 sports tourists between January and October—a figure she described as dismal.

The CEO was speaking during a capacity-building forum on Sports Tourism, where sports federations in Kenya were also urged to synchronise the sports events calendar to ensure tour operators leverage key events to make Kenya an all-around tourism destination.

The session also had a strong focus on building synergies between tourism stakeholders and key sports event organisers in Kenya.

Tour operators and hotels were particularly urged to get creative in bundling offers to ensure the repeat visits and long stays of visitors drawn by sports.

Magical Kenya Open tournament director, Patrick Obath asked the Kenyan tourism trade to package tourism products around key events that are already guaranteed in the annual sports calendar.

“The link between sports and tourism is multifaceted. First, people can play sports and visit a destination where an event is taking place and secondly, if they like the sport being hosted, they are more likely to be enticed to go visit attractions in the country. What is needed is to package the products we have in the country around events. A key feature in hosting international events is the broadcast and TV time we get around the world that exposes the county positively globally,” Obath said.

Chepkemei noted that with the privilege of hosting key local and international sports events, the destination has an opportunity to scale its tourism portfolio and provide alternatives to travellers who seek adventure and sports.

“We have the landscapes and wonderful views that can allow us to host many sports events, especially those that don’t require us to have mega facilities. Given our strong sports reputation, it should concern us that we don’t fully capitalise on sports tourism going by the current statistics. To drive our tourism offering, our goal is to empower the travel trade to better understand and package sports tourism opportunities,” she said.