Kenya’s tourism sector will reap big from the ongoing Outbound Travel Mart (OTM) event taking place in Mumbai India, Tourism Board has said.
According to KTB’s CEO Betty Radier, the country’s participation in the event will increase its market share from the growing outbound travel originating from the Asia Pacific region.
The platform will also avail Kenya’s travel trade an opportunity to interact with other destination marketing organisations and interest them in marketing Kenya.
Additionally, it will offer Kenya an opportunity to gain market insights, identify market opportunities while also strengthening and building trade relations with India’s major outbound operators for continued tourism growth in the country.
OTM is the leading travel show within the Asia-Pacific region and is highly ranked with over 50 countries 1000 exhibitors and 15000 trade visitors expected to be in attendance.
The event is touted by tourism players to be the gateway to India’s travel markets.
India is ranked among Kenya’s top five tourists source markets from the Asian continent and is considered among the fastest growing outbound tourism travel markets, with UNWTO forecasting that India will account for 50 million outbound tourists by 2020.
“India is a priority source market for Kenya; the latest data indicates that arrivals from India in year 2019 closed at 122,600 with these numbers expected to grow in the coming years. The expo will bring us nearer to achieving more numbers from 2020 going forward”. Our previous participation in this event has been of tremendous benefit to us with several milestones being achieved in the last few years such as hosting the Indirica Festival Kenya which is an initiative aimed at creating synergies and opening new opportunities to connect India with Africa “said Radier.
Radier added, “the return the Air India in Kenya last year is a good indicator for the two countries and will also increase existing connectivity to Kenya and thus further enhance accessibility of the destination by Indian travellers. We are confident that the sessions we will have with buyers and traders during this important expo will allow us to market Kenya and enhance the opportunity for Kenya to improve tourism from this region.”
India has 75 Million passport holders which presents a great opportunity for Kenya to tap into, especially in peak travel seasons of October to December when 25 percent of outbound travel happens and from April to June that has 50 percent of outbound travel.
Source: Capital FM Kenya.
