Wausi Walya, manager, Kenya Tourism Board, giving a presentation to the media yesterday.
By Salman Siddiqui/Staff Reporter
More than 2,400 people from Qatar, 30% of whom were Qataris, visited Kenya last year, a senior official of the Kenyan Tourism Board said yesterday.
In a detailed presentation given to the media yesterday, KTB’s Wausi Walya said that Kenya was fast becoming one of the preferred choices of exotic locations in Africa for travellers from the Middle East region.
“Already Qatar is ahead of some other countries in the GCC such as Kuwait (which had more than 500 visitors to Kenya last year) and Saudi Arabia,” she said.
Also, ever since Qatar opened its embassy in Kenya, which complimented the Kenyan embassy in Qatar, the movement of people between the two countries has become not only more frequent, but a lot easier, she added.
However, Qatar still lags far behind the UAE from where more than 40,000 people visited Kenya last year alone.
Walya was all praise for Qatar Airways for promoting Kenya as a favoured destination and revealed that the airline operates around 18 flights per week to the country.
“Qatar Airways has been very helpful in marketing Kenya as a tourist destination,” she said.
Although Walya did not give out any specific names, she said that many prominent people from Qatar have visited Kenya for leisure in the past.
She said that one of the main concerns of Qatari visitors is whether their privacy would be maintained during their trip, which she said the authorities and tour companies in Kenya do their best to provide their specific requirements.
Tourism contributes to about 12% of Kenya’s GDP and the African country is interested in boosting this sector by promoting its destinations in the Middle East region.
Walya said that at the moment, about 47% of visitors to Kenya come from Europe and the UK, while only 3% arrive from the Middle East. “We would like to see these numbers from the Middle East grow exponentially,” she said.
About other regions, she said that visitors from India and China were also increasing year by year.
She said that the Kenyan government was mindful of security concerns of all the people visiting their country and it was for this reason that the Tourism Police Units were beefed up with more personnel recently.
For Qataris, visa is on arrival. In fact, apart from Afghanistan, Libya, Senegal, Azerbaijan, Lebanon, Somalia, Armenia, Mali, Syria, Cameroon, North Korea, Tajikistan, Iraq, Eritrea and Palestine, everyone can get visa on arrival that comes to about $50 for single entry.
Also, tourists can also get for $100, a ‘mini Schengen -type’ visa for Kenya, Uganda and Rwanda.
The Kenya Tourism Board officials said that Kenya had a lot to offer to people looking for an adventure, including an amazing safari experience at two national parks; two ‘very superior’ golf courses; The Billionaire Resort in Malindi by Italian billionaire Flavio where one can get a chance to meet celebrities from all over the world; balloon safari and many water sport activities.
KTB’s Tariq Musa was also with Walya in the press briefing yesterday.
