The Kenya Council of governors led by chair Wycliffe Oparanya has congratulated Nairobi governor Mike Sonko for transforming Nairobi County into Africa’s superpower.
On a tweet, the Council said that under Sonko’s dispensation, Nairobi County has transformed greatly by attracting tourists across the globe eating other African Countries.
“Congratulations Nrb City County for being ranked Africa’s Leading Business travel destination during World Travel Awards 2019 held in Mauritius. Under the new dispensation, Kenya is becoming an economic superpower in Africa, “Oparanya said.
Nairobi beat seven other African cities namely, Accra (Ghana), Cairo (Egypt), Lagos (Nigeria) Cape Town, Durban, Johannesburg and Pretoria all in South Africa, to emerge the winner.
This is the second time Nairobi has been named Africa’s Leading Meetings and Conference Destination having also won the award in 2016.
Congratulations Nrb City County for being ranked Africa's Leading Business travel destination during World Travel Awards 2019 held in Mauritius. Under the new dispensation, Kenya is becoming an economic super power in Africa. pic.twitter.com/IbGVZ3KR6J
— Council of Governors (@KenyaGovernors) June 3, 2019
Nairobi is among six must-visit African cities chosen by the 47-year-old American monthly consumer travel magazine, Travel+Leisure.
Describing the Kenyan capital as East Africa’s hub and home of emergent design collections from across Africa, the magazine with a 16 million global audience said travelers seeking to explore the creative scene should visit the country in 2019.
KICC, which was participating in the award of the first time, beat off stiff competition from Durban Convention Centre in South Africa, which has held the title for the last nine years.
Other nominees in the category included Cairo Convention Centre in Egypt, Cape Town Convention Centre in South Africa, Kigali Convention Centre in Rwanda, Palais Des Congress Marrakech in Morocco and Sandton Convention Centre in South Africa.
Kenya’s 2018 tourist arrivals grew by 37.33 percent from the previous year to cross the two million mark for the first time, posting significant growth in earnings to Sh157 billion.
The earnings are a 31.2 percent improvement from the Sh119 billion earned in 2017, according to Tourism Cabinet Secretary Najib Balala.
The latest statistics show there were 2,025,206 tourists arriving compared with 1,474,671 international arrivals in the previous year.