The Kenya Tourism Board (KTB) has embarked on leveraging the country’s large diaspora population to attract additional visitors to the country.
Through the “Ziara Kenya One Diaspora One Tourist” tourism marketing drive unveiled at the sidelines of the Paris Olympics, the tourism marketing agency seeks to harness the diaspora’s networks to attract at least one tourist per diaspora member annually and increase international arrivals.
“The Kenyan diaspora is a formidable and equally patriotic community that continues to shape the fortunes of our nation. This campaign will harness the passion and goodwill of this community to boost tourism. By turning each member of the Kenyan diaspora into an ambassador for Kenya, we are poised to ignite passions and connections that will have ripple effects leading to more visitors to our country,” said June Chepkemei KTB Chief Executive Officer.
According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, there are least four million Kenyans living abroad. This has seen diapora remittances rise to a record Ksh 671 billion ($4.19 billion) last year.
“Tourism revenue comes second as a forex earner just behind diaspora remittances. Our aim is to catalyze a convergence of these two very significant sectors by ensuring that tourism, cultural understanding and economic prosperity become mutually reinforcing,” added Chepkemei.
The campaign is modeled around successes registered by other countries that have creatively tapped their diaspora to generate an upsurge in visitor numbers including some in the African Continent.
Kenya is well on its way to pre pandemic visitor numbers having attracted 1.96 million international tourists in 2023. The KTB targets three million arrivals through the supported by the new campaign.
