Tourism gets a boost as Nairobi hosts conferences

Tourists at Moi International Airport, Mombasa, after disembarking from an Air Italian charter flight. Hard economic times in Europe have resulted in decline of flights. FILE

By WANGUI MAINA

Business and conference tourism will this week get a boost with hundreds of delegates expected in Nairobi to attend two international conferences.

The two conferences — the Africa Hotel Investment Forum and International Ecotourism and Sustainable Tourism Conference — are expected to bring major investors and players in the tourism sector together during the week as the world celebrates World Tourism Day, on September 27.

“We want to showcase Kenya through the conferences. This will help boost tourism,” said Kenya Tourism Board (KTB) managing director Muriithi Ndegwa, during the announcement of the sustainable tourism conference.

Business tourism was down the first six months of the year, mainly due to elections in March. Data from KTB shows business travel during the period dropped by 13.6 per cent with only 42,687 arrivals.

March was the most affected when the numbers declined from 7,286 last year to 5,278, a 27.6 per cent drop.

The Africa Hotel Investment Forum, supported by the Kenya Tourism Development Corporation (KTDC), will bring together major hotel chains in the hospitality industry, developers in the sector and financiers.

Major deals are expected to be announced, mainly regarding new establishments in Africa, at the three-day forum. A new African hospitality group is expected to be unveiled during the forum.

Last year, eight deals were sealed at the conferences, which was held for the first time in Nairobi, including Emaar Hospitality Group announcing a deal to operate a property in Maasai Mara.

It’s at the same conference that the management of Windsor Golf and Country Club met the London-based architects G1 who are renovating and expanding the 20-year-old facility.

This is the second year Kenya is hosting the conference, which is supported by KTDC.