Nigeria has been described as a potential tourism market with diverse buyers and consumers.
The Kenya Tourism Board (KTB) and other trade team who are in Nigeria recently highlighted this at the sideline of a roadshow to woo Nigerians to experience Kenya’s newest tourism packages.
According to the Marketing Manager, Africa, KTB, Mr Alex Tonui, “Nigeria is one of our key source markets to grow numbers and tourism arrival into Kenya. We noticed that Africans have begun to travel and they have the propensity to travel and they are looking for new and exciting destinations and we are at the roadshow to offer these opportunities to this market to visit Kenya and enjoy what we offer.
On the number of tourists arrival and future target, Mr Tonui said, “The present yearly tourists arrival from Nigeria to Nairobi is 35,000 visitors and we intend to subsistently grow by 10 percent by the year.
On measure to up their game arrival amidst Africa’s competitive market, Mr Tonui said, “We are in Nigeria with our trade team among whom are the tour operators, hoteliers to develop packages for this market; that means by engaging them, we are able to share with them all that packages Kenya has to offer. Also, we share all what government has put in place to ease travel restrictions to make Kenya more than accessible to the market and that is why we are here, putting people in touch with your business because this is B2B meeting so we can be able to work with trade here through this partnership and grow travel arrivals to Kenya.
Speaking on the new trend to expect at the 2024 Magical Kenya event, Mr Tonui said there is a lot of new offers. According to him, urban adventure has grown tremendously; there is a lot of new development that is happening within the city; an opportunity for shopping, fine dining, golfing, cultural circuit; like safari, beach and others.
“These packages earlier mentioned are what we are bringing to this market because we realised that Nigerians are beginning to seek for these. You can come to Kenya to consume these products and these are what we are bringing to them.”
He added that Kenya is a safe destination because the government has put measures in place to ensure that travellers are able to enjoy their experiences in a safe and fun-filled environment.
“Kenya is affordable, we have various products and services to offer to everybody’s needs and that is why we have our tour operators here so that they can be able to customize packages for the trade partners. It is affordable depending on what you are looking for.”
Also speaking on the sideline, the Sales Manager, Kenya Airways, Mr Richard Matthews, explained that the reason for the road show is that the Kenya Tourism Board is trying to sell the West African destination; prominently Nigeria and Ghana have that traction to give them the population they are looking at to enter Nairobi.
“All effort is to boost leisure and tourism for Kenya. If Kenya Tourism Board is having an event of this nature, Kenya Airways will surely collaborate with them to make it a success as a sister company to KBT. So that is the essence of today’s event and you can see that all the people at the roadshow are trade partners; they are the people that will assist us boost destination Kenya; and this includes Nairobi, Mombasa, Diani and other tourists points in Kenya.
Meanwhile, the Managing Director of Destination Connect, Mr Consaga Khisa, said that Kenya had been declared a visa-free destination for most African nations at the beginning of the year.
“We are here to foster relationships between Kenya tourism players and our partners in Nigeria.
“We welcome Nigerians to Kenya, our hotels and communication systems are of best standards, our airport transfer vehicles are fitted with wifi.
“We have the highest skating drills in Africa,” he said.
Speaking on boosting frequency to destination Kenya, Matthews explained that frequency is what we have been looking at even before the KTB event, presently we are doing seven flights out of Lagos every day but come April this year. We are going to add one more schedule to it to make it eight, which means on day seven will will be doing morning and night flights to Kenya.
“Then, come June, at the inception of the summer period this year, we are going to do 10 flights out of Lagos to Nairobi and a little bit after summer we are going to start flying from Abuja, which will be most likely 15 to 18 flights out of Nigeria.”
Also, the Regional Sales Manager, SAROVA Hotels and Resorts, Steve Biko, who is also part of the KTB team to Nigeria said: “Nigeria is a big market and for the effort you’ve seen here, its important and paramount that we have been able to capture the Nigerian market.”
“I read recently that Kenya Airways will have more flights, there is a reason for that and also heard someone talking about Uganda; Ugandan airline has told me that this (Nigeria) market was their most profitable route last year, so you can see why the attention has come to this market.
“We have many similarities; though you party more than us and you use your money more than us, but we have a lot of cultural similarities and it is time for Africans to appreciate their culture and exchange what each country has to offer.
He said of the similarities and the flight frequency many Kenya will start coming to Nigeria and that will promote a good exchange programme that will benefit both countries.
Highlighting the uniqueness of Sarova hotels, Biko said, “Sarova chains are indigenous, the first Kenya hotel and we are celebrating our 50th anniversary in April. Again, for us to have stayed in business for so long, it means we are doing something right and every day, what is paramount to us is that we try to get better and listen to the customers more to create experiences that customers will enjoy.
“We have nine properties with five city hotels and four lodges, we are ready for the business in receiving customers for the forthcoming Magical Kenya.
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