Kenya Airways And Kenya Tourism Board Sign Joint Marketing Initiative

The National carrier, Kenya Airways, and the Kenya Tourism Board (KTB) have entered into a one-year joint marketing programme aimed at boosting tourist arrivals into the country.

In the partnership, Kenya Airways will support the activities of KTB to the tune of KShs20 million while KTB will ensure KQ brand visibility at its tourism promotion forums as they seek to increase the number of tourists visiting Kenya.

In the year 2012, the country recorded 1,780,768 tourists a 0.3% decline compared to 2011 that had 1,785,382 visitors. This is attributed to many factors including insecurity and the euro zone crisis.

The joint marketing effort targets various tourist markets in Africa (Nigeria, Ethiopia, Rwanda, Ghana, Cameroon, South Africa, and Egypt) and Asia (Bangkok, Guangzhou, Delhi and Mumbai) as well as the domestic market. The effort will also be extended to cover Kenya Airways' destinations in Europe, Middle East and America.

The two organisations will also engage potential tourists through targeted events, festivals and regional road shows while also working with professional bodies and some of Kenya's top brands to grow the demand for travel within the country.

Speaking during the signing ceremony, Kenya Tourism Board Managing Director, Muriithi Ndegwa, said the partnership was timely, coming at a time when both the airline and Kenya's tourism sector were experiencing reduced numbers as a result of increased competition and various challenges such the Euro Zone Crisis and terrorism.

"The challenges that both our organisations face call for a major shift in the way we market ourselves in order for us to continue to attract business. We must not only enhance our attractiveness as the preferred tourist destination in all of our traditional markets but must also seek to collectively position Kenya as the tourists' choice on the continent to every potential visitor," he added.

"This partnership fits in well with our strategy to expand into some of the fastest growing travel markets in Africa, India, Middle East and the Far East. We need to diversify into the huge African market for our tourists. It takes time and resources to build new markets and we, therefore, have to persevere," said Kenya Airways Group Managing Director and CEO, Dr. Titus Naikuni.

"We are, therefore, delighted to join hands with KTB in this partnership which will enable us to give added visibility to our business and the country," he added. Muriithi added that tourism remained one of the highest contributors to the Exchequer and would be instrumental to the Government's efforts to improve the economy and deliver essential social services.

Through the partnership, Kenya Airways hopes to maintain a dominant presence and growth in all existing routes whilst marketing Kenya as a tourist and business destination of choice.

"Kenya Tourism Board and Kenya Airways target similar customers and by combining our strengths and resources we have a unique opportunity to reach our target customers much more efficiently," said Dr. Titus Naikuni.

He said the partnership will complement the airline's 10-year fleet and route network expansion plan and take advantage of the on-going expansion and upgrade of local airports.

"This partnership will be a major boost to the attainment of the country's economic blueprint, Vision 2030", he noted.