Kenya’s tourism registers 36.2% growth in in 2018/19 fiscal year

President Uhuru Kenyatta addresses top international guest in New York City Rockefeller Center at a dinner during the launch of the Kenya USA Kenya Airways direct flight last October 2018 Pic:Photo Courtesy

Kenya’s tourism registers 36.2% growth in in 2018/19 fiscal year 

The total international arrival by air and sea for the FY 2018/19 closed at 2,027,223 up from 1,488,370 in FY 2017/18, indicating a growth of 36.2%.

1. JKIA recorded arrivals for the period closed at 1,376,263 up from 848,521 illustrating a growth of 62.2%
2. MIAM recorded arrivals for the period closed at 129,346 up from 119,910 in FY 2017/18 illustrating a growth of 29.6%
3. Other Airports arrivals recorded in the period was 26,152.
4. The Cross Border figures for FY 2018/19 closed at 495,462 up from 517,157 indicating a decline of -4.2%.

Market share

In terms of purpose of travel, holiday is the major reason for travel into Kenya, taking a share of 71.2% of the total arrivals. Business and Conference contributed 14.4% of the arrivals in 2017/18. Business and Conference travel is on a growth path into the destination and this illustrates Kenya’s visitor confidence for commerce. Visit Family and Friends contributed 6.4%. On Transit passengers contributed 4.4% of the total arrivals. Other Purposes (Religion and Volunteering, Sports, Study and Not Stated) contributed the remaining 3.6%.

In terms of share of arrivals, USA is the leading source market contributing 11.5% of the total arrivals with 232,703. The 2^nd position is Uganda taking a share of 10.5% with 213,789. Tanzania closely follows with a share of 10.2% with 207,361 arrivals. 4^th is UK with a share of 8.8% with 179,384 arrivals. India is 5^th with 6.2% of the arrivals with 126,628.

The destination recorded a double-digit increase in FY 2018/19, after already strong growth in arrivals in 2018. Support to improve security and an increase in air connectivity with major overseas markets, especially China, Italy and the United States, have led to a significant growth in arrivals into the destination. 

Performance by Port of Entry 

The percentage share for the entry into the destination is illustrated by the table and pie chart below. JKIA recorded 1,376,263 which translates to 68% to the total arrivals into the destination. Cross border is 2^nd with 495,462 which is 24% of the arrivals, MIAM is 3^rd with 129,346 (6%) and other airport facilitated the arrival of 26,152 (1%). Key developments in the aviation sector during FY 2018/19 included improved services at JKIA, introduction of direct flights between Nairobi and New York, return of Air France flights and introduction of Qatar Airways flights between Doha and Mombasa. The open border policy which allows for African citizens to apply for their visas upon arrival has also improved the numbers coming from the regional market through the boarder points and airports.

JKIA
The monthly international visitor arrivals through Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) in 2017/18 vs FY 2018/19 is presented in the figure below. JKIA achieved the Category One status from The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) that allowed for direct flights between Kenya and the US and this has.

Passenger traffic and tourism worldwide is growing exponentially and for the destination to realize its targets of 2.8 million tourists by 2023, then Nairobi’s position as a gateway to the region has to be aggressively highlighted through investment put towards upgrading JKIA to position of competing with other world top class airports eg Chubu Centrair International Airport, Munich Airport, London Heathrow Airport, Zurich Airport etc.

MIAM

The monthly international visitor arrivals through Moi International Airport Mombasa (MIAM) in 2017/18 vs FY 2018/19 is presented in the figure below. The improvement in passenger numbers at MIAM can be attributed to the charter incentive program which – because of the success – has been reviewed and extended to 2020. In addition, discussions are being undertaken to expand the program to also entice schedule flights and international low cost carriers into the program which will further improve the performance.

Performance by Regions

During the period of FY 2018/19 global tourism performance has been positive and the outlook for the coming period is of optimistic expectation according to UNWTO. The drivers which can be attributed to this positive results in the FY2018/19 are: favorable economic environment in the source markets, strong outbound demand from major source markets, consolidation of the recovery in key destinations affected by previous crises, enhanced connectivity and increased visa facilitation.