The Kenya Tourism Board has embarked on marketing campaigns in Eastern Europe in a bid to attract more tourists to the country.

KTB acting MD, Jacinta Nzioka, said the campaigns at the moment targeted holidaymakers from the emerging markets of Poland and the Czech Republic.

The promotions include familiarisation trips for travel agents and journalists from Poland and the Czech Republic and advertising campaigns in Poland.

Nzioka said journalists from the two countries had already arrived in the country and 30 travel agents from Poland were expected to arrive this week. “We are bringing in journalists from Eastern Europe so that they can sample Kenyan tourism products, for them to report about the local attractions in their countries,” she said.

The KTB boss added that the Polish travel agents would visit various parts of the country to familiarise themselves with local leisure and safari products.

“KTB in collaboration with TUI Group, will, from July 31, carry out promotions in Poland to woo more tourists to the country,” she said.

Nzioka said the promotions aimed to revive the Polish market after tourist arrivals dropped to 1 400 last year. During the peak period of 2012, she said, the country received 12 000 holidaymakers from Poland.

Tourist arrivals from the Polish market took a dive in 2015 due to the effects of terrorist attacks which occurred in the country in 2014.

However, Nzioka noted that tourist arrivals from Poland had improved from January to July this year after security improved significantly in Kenya. She said following on from the promotions, visitor numbers from the Polish market were expected to recover this year. The introduction of charter flights from Warsaw to Mombasa by Polish airline, Small Planet, on Thursday, she added, would double tourist arrivals from Poland this year to 2 800, up from 1 400.

TUI Group Resident Manager, Tim Remberg, said summer bookings for Kenya from the Polish market had improved due to demand from tourists who want to visit the country for leisure and safari.

He added that Small Planet airline would operate one flight a week from Warsaw to Mombasa from now to October. In November, he said, charter airline Enterair would introduce flights from Warsaw to Mombasa during the winter season.

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