Tourism PS honoured for growing visitor numbers

Tourism principal secretary Fatuma Hirsi . FILE PHOTO | NMG 

By JAMES KARIUKI

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Two international bodies have honoured Tourism principal secretary Fatuma Hirsi for reforms credited with growing foreign tourists’ numbers and higher revenues.

Sri Lanka-based Pacific Area Travel Writers Association (Patwa) and the Institute of South Asian Women (Isaw) said Ms Hirsi was this year’s winner due to her role in policy formulation and her active participation in foreign missions to scout for tourists.

“Ms Hirsi is the Woman Achiever-Tourism Promotion. She has steered the ministry and the tourism sector to become the second highest foreign exchange earner in the country with a growth rate of about 17 per cent in both arrivals and revenue receipts,” said Isaw it is Facebook Page.

Others feted included Jordan’s Tourism and Antiquities Minister Lina Annab who received the 2017 Woman Achiever of the Year award with Philadelphia’s Convention and Visitors’ Bureau Chief Executive Julie Coker receiving the Woman of Excellence award.

The ceremony was held last week on the sidelines of the International Tourism Bourse (ITB) exhibition in Berlin, Germany.