Tourism in Kenya is the second largest
source of foreign exchange revenue following agriculture. The Kenya Tourism
Board is responsible for maintaining information pertaining to tourism in Kenya.
The main
tourist attractions are photo safaris through the 19 national parks and game
reserves. Other attractions include the mosques at Mombasa; the
renowned scenery of the Great Rift Valley; the coffee plantations
at Thika; a view
of Mt. Kilimanjaro across the border into Tanzania; and
the beaches along the Indian Ocean.
Beach tourism,
eco-tourism, cultural tourism, and sports tourism are all part of the tourism
sector in Kenya. During the 1990s, the number of tourists travelling to Kenya
decreased, partly due to the well publicised murders of several tourists. However,
tourism in Kenya is one of the leading sources of foreign exchange along with
coffee.
Following the
controversial 2007 presidential election and
the 2007-2008 Kenyan crisis that followed,
tourism revenues plummeted 54 percent from 2007 in the first quarter of 2008. It
fell to 8.08 billion shillings (US$130.5 million) from 17.5 billion shillings
in January–March 2007 and a total of 130,585 tourists arrived in Kenya compared
to over 273,000 that year. Tourist income from
China dropped 10.7%, compared with over 50% from traditional revenue earners
the United States and Europe. Domestic tourism improved by 45%, earning the
tourist sector 3.65 billion shillings out of the 8.08 billion in the period
being reviewed.
Conference
tourism was badly hit during the first quarter, dropping by 87.4% compared to
the growth that occurred in 2007. Conference attendance declined also with 974
people arriving in Kenya during that period while many conferences were
cancelled. Business travel declined by 21 per cent during the time period and
35,914 travellers came into the country compared to 45,338 during the same
period the year before.
Kenya won the
Best Leisure Destination award at the World Travel Fair in Shanghai, China, in
April 2008. The Permanent Secretary in Kenya's Ministry of Tourism, Rebecca
Nabutola, stated that the award "goes to testify that Kenya has a
unique world acclaimed tourism product. The recognition will no doubt boost Kenya's
tourism and enhance its profile as a leading tourist destination."
Tourist numbers
reached a peak of 1.8 million visitors in 2011 before sliding because of
murders and terrorist attacks in 2013 and 2014 that prompted travel
restrictions and advisories including from England. International tourist
arrivals for 2013 were 1.49 million.
A large
proportion of Kenya's tourism centres on safaris and tours of its great
National Parks and Game Reserves. While most tourists do visit for safari there
are also great cultural aspects of the country to explore in cities like
Mombasa and Lamu on the Coast. The Masai Mara National Reserve is usually where
the Maasai Village can be found; a site that most tourists like to visit. In
addition, There are also a lot of beaches to visit in Kenya, where you can
experience water boarding, surfing, wind surfing and many more fun activities
that are good for Kenya's economy
National Parks
Kenya National Parks are controlled by Kenya
Wildlife Services, who look after and protect the areas. The wages of workers
in the National Parks are usually funded by entrance fees charged for safaris
and tours. Unlike Animal Reserves, National Parks allow strictly no human
habitation. Kenyan national parks are an extremely common tourist attraction in
Kenya.
Amboseli
National Park
Main article: Amboseli National Park
Amboseli National Park, formerly Maasai Amboseli
Game Reserve is in Kajiado District, Rift Valley Province in Kenya. The park is
390 km2 (150 sq mi) in size at the core of an
8,000 km2 (3,000 sq mi) ecosystem that spreads across
the Kenya—Tanzania border. The local people are mainly Maasai,
but people from other parts of the country have settled there attracted by the
successful tourist-driven economy and intensive agriculture along the system of
swamps that makes
this low-rainfall area (average 350 millimetres (14 in) per annum) one of
the best wildlife-viewing experiences in the world. The park protects two of
the five main swamps, and includes a dried-up Pleistocene
lake and semi-arid vegegation.
Kora
National Park
Main article: Kora National Park
Kora National Park is located in Coast
Province, Kenya. The park covers an area of 1,787 square kilometres
(690 sq mi). It is located 125 kilometres (78 mi) east of Mount
Kenya. The park was initially gazetted as a nature
reserve in 1973. It was gazetted as a national
park in 1990, following the murder of George
Adamson by poachers.[12]
Lake Nakuru
National Park
Lake Nakuru National Park (168 km2
(65 sq mi)), created in 1961 around Lake
Nakuru, to the south of Nakuru Town, in the Great Rift Valley. It is best known for its
thousands, sometimes millions of flamingos
nesting along the shores. The surface of the shallow lake is often hardly
recognisable due to the continually shifting mass of pink. The number of
flamingoes on the lake varies with water and food conditions and the best
vantage point is from Baboon Cliff. Scientists have calculated that the Flamingoes
feed on 250,000 kilograms of algae per year for each hectare of surface area
(220,000 lb/acre). Also of interest is an area of 188 km
(117 mi) around the lake fenced off as a sanctuary to protect Rothschild giraffes and black
rhinos.
Mount Kenya National Park (0°07′S
37°20′E), established in 1949, protects the region surrounding Mount
Kenya. Initially it was a forest reserve before being announced as a
national park. Currently the national park is within the forest reserve which
encircles it. In April 1978 the area was designated a UNESCO Biosphere
Reserve. The national park and the forest reserve, combined, became a
UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1997.
Nairobi
National Park
Main article: Nairobi National Park
Nairobi National Park is a national
park in Kenya. It became Kenya's first national park when it was
established in 1946. It is located approximately 7 kilometres (4 mi) south
of the centre of Nairobi,
Kenya's capital city, and is small in relation to most of Africa's national
parks. Nairobi's skyscrapers can be seen from the park. The park has a large
and varied wildlife population. Only a fence separates the park's animals from
the city. Migrating herbivores concentrate in the park during the dry season.
It is one of Kenya's most successful rhinoceros
sanctuaries. The park's proximity to Nairobi causes conflicts between the
park's animals and local people and threatens animals' migration routes.
In 1995, there
were 34,211 hotel beds with a 44% occupancy rate. 1,036,628 visitors arrived in
Kenya in 2000 and tourism receipts totalled $257 million. That year, the US
government estimated the average cost of staying in Nairobi at $202 per day,
compared to $94 to $144 per day in Mombasa, depending on the time of year. In
2013, the Ugandan Tourism Board recognized Kenya's tourism industry as
generating an amount of $66 million annually from Ugandan tourists.
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