The inaugural direct flight between Kenya and the United States is 10 days away, but the vibe around it has warmed US travellers who, according to the New York Times, have made Kenya a hot-ticket destination rivalling Mexico, Italy and Europe, generally.
The paper, quoting travel agents, said bookings for December to Kenya were up by about 28 per cent from last year’s with one arranger saying it had placed Sh800 million worth of business to Kenya.
That will translate to higher bed occupancy for hotels, more direct jobs and business for suppliers.
Non-stop flights between Nairobi’s Jomo Kenyatta International Airport and John F Kennedy International Airport in New York will be launched by President Uhuru Kenyatta on October 28.
Travelport, an agency, reported a 28.8 per cent increase for December bookings to Kenya, compared to last year, while ForwardKeys reported a 27.2 per cent increase in bookings from last month to the end of the year, the paper said.
Kenya receives about 120,000 visitors from the US every year, making it the second biggest tourism source market after United Kingdom.
The bookings are a lift to the tourism sector across the country, starting with beach holidays at the coast, conference tourism in Nairobi and Mombasa, safari travel in protected nature reserves and cultural attractions in far-flung places such as Turkana and Lamu.
The news also coincides with Mombasa hosting more than 500 visitors for the 79th SKAL International World Congress.
Mr Andy Pesky, the senior vice-president of leisure sales and marketing at Protravel, was quoted as saying the company had recorded around $8 million (Sh800 million) in winter bookings to Kenya, a 10 per cent jump from $7.2 million last year.
That alone represents about a tenth of the money Kenya earns from tourism annually.
“You’re saving more than five hours of travel time and don’t have to deal with a layover,” said Ms Christine Alestra, the director of destination partnerships for Signature, on the flight’s appeal.
“The impending inaugural Kenya Airways Nairobi to New York direct flights makes Kenya more accessible to the US. We expect this to increase the number of visitors coming for the December holidays,” Mr Kamani added.
He said that the lifting of travel advisories after Kenya contained the terrorism threats and the easing of tensions brought by last year’s elections had also given confidence to the visitors.
Besides upgrading facilities, the stakeholders have courted new markets and diversified the product.
“Directs flights will first open direct link to our tourist market number two. US can easily become our number one tourist source if it is accessible,” said the Kenya Association of Hotelkeepers and Caterers Coast branch executive officer, Mr Sam Ikwaye.
Direct New York flights, political stability boon to tourism sector: Non-stop flights between Nairobi and New York to be launched on October 28. https://t.co/R0CdKKrrDl
— Breaking News (@News_Kenya) October 18, 2018