NAIROBI, July 17 (Xinhua) -- Kenya is expecting about 2.1 million international tourists by the end of the year, an official said on Wednesday, attributing the high number of arrivals to aggressive marketing in new destinations.
David Gitonga, chief executive officer of Tourism Research Institute, said the government has put in place measures to ensure the number of tourists arriving in the country increases.
"Already over 900,000 international tourists have visited the country and our projections are that the number will rise to over 2.1 million as the high peak season is ahead of us," said Gitonga.
He said the Tourism Satellite Account (TSA) project will ensure that investors and stakeholders have latest data to help them prepare and market their businesses.
Geoffrey Manyara, senior regional tourism adviser for Subregional Office for Eastern Africa at the UN Economic Commission for Africa, said that the TSA project would be implemented in six months, adding that this would make Kenya the fourth country to have a TSA following South Africa, Botswana and Rwanda.
"Currently Africa contributes to 4.5 percent of tourists in the world and the TSA will market the East Africa region so that number of tourists can rise from the current 5.8 million to 35 million by 2024," said Manyara.