Kenyan Tourism Minister, Najib Balala, has assured tourism players at the Kenya coast that the industry will start to improve from mid-July, when some chartered airlines from Europe resume flights to Mombasa.

Balala said the industry would perform better this year following Kenya’s aggressive marketing in Germany, UK, France, Italy and Spain as well as in the emerging markets of Eastern Europe.

Kenya Tourism Board Chairman, Jimi Kariuki, also expressed hope that tourism at the coast would improve during the European summer owing to marketing campaigns in the international source markets.

The Minister also said recovery measures such as the $10.2 million charter incentive programme, the reduction of park entry fees from $90 per visitor to $60 and the waiving of $50 visa fee for children below 16 years were some of the factors that were attracting tourists to visit Kenya.

In March, Balala said he expected the tourism sector in Kenya to grow by 20% compared with 2015 due to security improvement and the lifting of travel advisories by the UK, US, France and Australia. In the first quarter of 2016, he also pointed out that the sector grew by 24% compared with the first quarter of 2015.

Early May, ForwardKeys said international flight bookings to Kenya for the summer season had increased by 27.7% compared with 2015.

Hotels at the Kenya coast have experienced especially low occupancies since April. Currently, hotel occupancy in Mombasa is averaging at between 30% and 40%, hotels at the south coast at below 20% while those in Malindi and Watamu at between 5% and 15% occupancy.

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