Ugandans spent hundreds of millions visiting neighbouring Kenya in the first 10 months of this year according to data released by the Kenya Tourism Board (KTB).
Uganda was the fourth largest market for Kenya with high arrivals just behind the United States (82,363), United Kingdom (80,821) and India (54,983) as the top three.
Between January and October, 45,116 Ugandans up from 24,420 toured the country surpassing China with arrivals of 41,459 up from 25,299 while Germany was sixth with 36,066 up from 30,806 while South Africa was seventh with 28,720 up from 25,819.
Of the 729,682 arrivals, 75 per cent went for holiday while 13 per cent visited Kenya for business and conferences.
Kenya, as a destination, is not only famed for vacationing but is also a hotspot for business travellers. Kenya has Uganda’s largest in bound traffic to Uganda. Against this background, Uganda recently opened a consulate in Mombasa which is being used to promote Uganda’s tourism to Kenyans.
According to Angelina Wapakhabulo, Uganda’s High Commissioner to Kenya, the consulate is an effective tool as there are already so many factors in its favour. For instance, there are at least five flights a day from Kenya and Uganda. Even better, both Kenya and Uganda are English speaking Nations which makes it easy to sell Uganda’s products and experiences.
Over a year back, Uganda, Kenya and Rwanda established a tripartite agreement meant to promote inter-state travels among the three countries. Since then, a couple developments have been registered.
The Visa was scrapped. The construction of a standard Railway was commissioned. Today, a system through which citizens from the three countries can travel using only their National Identity Cards as opposed to passports was established.
To increase further the tourist arrivals from the US, the Kenyan government will February next year host 3,000 American travel agents for them to familiarise with tourism products, Tourism Cabinet Secretary Najib Balala, said.
