Kenya to Tap Sports Tourism to Boost Visitor Arrivals

Kenya on 4 January announced that it will tap sports tourism to boost foreign visitor arrivals.

Peninah Malonza, cabinet secretary for the Ministry of Tourism, Wildlife and Heritage, told journalists in the Kenyan capital of Nairobi that sports tourism is one of the fastest growing sectors in tourism thanks to the increased number of sporting events being held in the eastern African country.

"The government has focused on the growth of traditional sports such as athletics, golf, rugby, swimming, and safari while diversifying to more innovative sports tourism activities such as ice hockey to attract more international visitors," Malonza said during the opening of an international ice hockey tournament.

According to government statistics, tourism is one of Kenya's largest sources of foreign exchange, alongside tea, diaspora remittances, and horticulture.

Malonza believed that sports have a huge potential to transform Kenya's tourism sector because foreign visitors travel to attend popular sporting events and compete in the events themselves. "We want to organize more major international sports events that will bring the world to Kenya each year," she observed.

The Kenyan official revealed that ice hockey is among the tourism activities which are relatively new in Kenya and whose potential has not been fully exploited.

"Aggressive tourism marketing is mandatory to draw more local and international tourists to watch the sport," Malonza added.