Some of the tourist students join traditional dancers in a jig from mv Odyssey that docked at the port of Mombasa yesterday,the floating campus had 609 passengers and 183 crew members on board/JOHN CHESOLIHILLARY Siele is a happy man. He is the general manager of Travellers Beach Hotel and Spa in Mombasa, which is fully booked until December.
“Things are opening up. In fact, we are hosting the East African Aviation Sports in February. It is a good indicator,” he said.
The hotel has added staff on seasonal contracts for the October to January period. Siele is also looking forward to holidays for international schools in January.
“It’s a trend every year. It is looking good. Our worry is just the election period. It might have a bit of repercussions,” he said.
“The international market is normally worried about travel during electioneering.”
Aggrey, a graduate who was recently employed in one of the hotels in the North Coast, is grateful for the job but says the industry is not expanding fast enough.
“In terms of jobs, there are still a lot of graduates who are jobless, with some doing casual work because they have no contracts. I am a casual,” he told the Star on condition of anonymity.
Kenya’s tourism sector is on an upward trajectory, having fully recovered from the disruptions of the Covid-19 pandemic.
International arrivals grew by a massive 88 per cent from 1,483,752 recorded in 2022 to 2,792,875 as of June, according to data from the Government Delivery Unit.
Industry earnings shot up by 110 per cent from Sh268 billion in 2022 to Sh564 billion in June.
The post-Covid rebound was primarily driven by resumed global travel, supported by aggressive destination marketing under the Magical Kenya brand.
Others are improved air connectivity with more international airlines and charter flights into both Nairobi and Mombasa and the government's visa reforms including the Electronic Travel Authorization (eTA) system, which eased entry.
Hotel bed occupancy rose from 6,692,820 to 11,556,200, a growth of 72.6 per cent.
Domestic bed occupancy increased by nearly 24 per cent from 4,195,623 to 5,198,400.
Hotels moved from low post-Covid occupancy to near full utilisation, especially in Nairobi, Mombasa and the Mara circuits.
In the past four years, Kenya has grown as a preferred destination for meetings, incentives, conferences and events (MICE).
Local delegates to MICE rose from 615,373 in 2022 to 758,278 in June, an increase of 23 per cent, while international delegates increased from 23,105 to 38,705 (67.5 per cent).
The country witnessed expansion of niche tourism through the promotion and hosting of flagship international and national sporting events.
These include the WRC Safari Rally Kenya, Magical Kenya Open, Magical Kenya Ladies Open, Kip Keino Classic, Standard Chartered Nairobi Marathon and the Magical Kenya Mountain & Trail Series.
The government led efforts to enhance tourism product diversification by establishing and promoting adventure, camping and bird watching circuits.
The State Department of Tourism has completed the mapping and documentation of tourism products across all 47 counties, creating a national inventory to support destination development, investment promotion and product commercialisation.
The operationalisation and enhanced marketing of the Mombasa Cruise Terminal increased calls by international cruise liners at the Port of Mombasa.
Kenya has received major international cruise vessels including Norwegian Dawn, MV World Odyssey, Viking Sky, MS Europa and Ambience, significantly enhancing the country's international visibility.
The refurbishment and modernisation of the iconic Kenyatta International Convention Centre is nearly complete (at 73 per cent).
The ongoing construction of the Bomas International Convention Centre (BICC) has created between 3,000 and 5,000 direct jobs while laying the foundation for Kenya to host larger international conferences and exhibitions, further boosting tourism earnings, investment and long-term.
Kenya is building partnerships with international airlines in response to increasing interest in the country from emerging source markets particularly across Asia and the Middle East.
In 2024, the Kenya Tourism Board entered into a route marketing collaboration with AirAsia X to attract more visitors from Southeast Asia, Northern Asia and Australia through the airline’s wider network.
Last year, Kenya Tourism Board (KTB) welcomed the launch of Flydubai’s Nairobi service, building on the airline’s daily Mombasa operation and strengthening Kenya’s connectivity to Dubai and the wider Middle East.
“These efforts have now been strengthened further, with KTB partnering with Emirates and Qatar Airways in September 2026 to promote Kenya in their international networks, increase visitor arrivals from the Middle East and convert stronger air connectivity into tourism,” CEO June Chepkemei said.
“Kenya is seeking to increase arrivals from the Middle East to 50,000 visitors, compared to 20,480 recorded during the 2026 financial year. Based on an average contribution of about Sh300,000 per visitor, achieving this target could generate about Sh15 billion for the Kenyan economy.”
Industry players agree the sector has recovered but challenges remain. Kenya Association of Hotelkeepers and Caterers Coast executive officer Sam Ikwaye said there has been some improvement, determined by many factors.
“For instance, the Zanzibar numbers had some problems at some point because of the elections there, which diverted some numbers to Kenya. And, you know, Zanzibar is our competitor,” he said.
Ikwaye said Kenya enjoys stability, which is good for the industry. However, he said, more liberalisation of the airspace is still needed to bring in more numbers.
“That is what is still blocking the growth that we should be seeing. If there are no direct flights into destinations, then we are talking about growth on paper but we are not really feeling it as industry,” Ikwaye said.
He said MICE has been particularly good, especially in Nairobi, but the leisure segment, which is the Coast specialty, has not been at par.
The number of airport and SGR arrivals have increased, as indicated by the Easter and school holidays where the number of guests in hotels increased significantly.
He said the leisure segment of tourism requires more support. The bed capacity at the Coast has almost doubled from 30,000 to 50,000 in the last few years.
“We had hotels only. Now we have apartments, Airbnbs, holiday homes, villas, among others. That potential is not being utilised,” he said.
Tour operator Monika Solanki said this July was bad for most of stakeholders unlike last year.
Pollman’s Tours and Safaris director Mohammed Hersi said they have been busy almost like last year.
“It is not always about growth. It is also about stability. As a tour operator, I can tell you that, for instance, the Italian market has been very stable for us,” Hersi told the Star on phone.
He said the cruise ships coming into Mombasa have increased. “Stability is key. We are seeing growth coming in slowly and, hopefully, in 2027 everything remains calm because it is very easy to destroy that stability,” Hersi said.
He said there has also been an increase in the number of charters.
“We are happy that Ethiopian Airlines was allowed to fly a second flight into Mombasa. But we still emphasize on government to allow Turkish Airlines more than three flights,” Hersi said.
He noted that only three flights into Mombasa undermines Turkish Airlines’s efforts to grow their numbers. “And the worst part is that they (government) limit the three flights to only 450 seats, meaning 150 seats per flight, which doesn’t make sense.
