Nairobi: Kenya is significantly improving its conference tourism through diversification of products beyond wildlife and beaches. The key sector in collaboration with the national and county governments has invested in world-class facilities to promote Meetings, Incentives, Conferences and Exhibitions (MICE) tourism.
According to Kenya News Agency, as the industry celebrates the World Tourism Week, Kenya has been described as a strategic and ideal destination for regional and international meetings. The International Congress and Convention Association’s (ICCA) report of 2024 shows that MICE drives global travel growth and has outpaced leisure tourism.
ICCA, a global meetings industry network, states that Kenya has made significant strides in conference tourism, currently ranking third in Africa after South Africa and Rwanda. This position reflects a substantial rise from ninth place in 2022, attributed to international standard facilities like Kenyatta International Convention Centre (KICC) and strategic efforts to host major global and continental events. This is a relatively new concept in the tourism industry that involves provision to business travelers attending seminars, workshops, conferences, and exhibitions.
Consequently, stakeholders in the tourism industry have been challenged to formulate a collective and comprehensive strategy to claim its share in the lucrative Meetings, Incentives, Conferences and Exhibition (MICE) sector. ‘Conference tourism creates jobs, strengthens the local economy and contributes to infrastructure development,’ said Dr. Sam Ikwaye, the Kenya Association of Hotelkeepers and Caterers (KAHC) Coast branch Executive Officer. Ikwaye noted that conference tourism has the potential to play a critical role in the promotion of tourism and called for investment and improvement of transport networks to attract high profile meetings.
Tourism and Wildlife CS Rebecca Miano mentions that recent research has shown that a conference tourist spends 2-3 times more than the normal tourist. Miano stated, ‘Kenya is a favourite destination and we want to improve our infrastructure by getting State-of-the-Art conference facilities to attract more conferences and events.’
Fred Kiuru, a veteran hotelier, believes Kenya is better positioned to attract more international meetings and global events in the region and called for more investments in modernising conference facilities. He emphasized the need to diversify tourism products like MICE and reduce reliance on traditional tourism such as beaches and safaris, which he claimed are becoming less attractive. ‘Meetings, Incentives, Conferences and Exhibitions are more resilient and have huge economic impact compared to leisure tourism, which is susceptible to internal strife,’ he added.
Mombasa governor Abdulswamad Sharif Nassir expresses that his administration is focusing on enhancing conference tourism as part of its broader strategy to boost the coastal county’s tourism sector and create jobs. He encourages all public and private stakeholders to work towards diversifying their tourism products by establishing strong convention bureaus to tap into this tourism conference segment to boost revenues.
Nassir called for the implementation of the open skies policy to enable international flights to land directly into Mombasa to boost coastal tourism. He revealed that last year, out of over 11,000 association conferences held globally, Kenya hosted only 29, with only five taking place at the Coast. ‘We were ranked 63rd worldwide and that tells us one thing that we must do more together to reposition Mombasa as a premier conference destination,’ he said.
Nassir is encouraged by the national government’s support including the upcoming launch of direct Turkish Airlines flights into Mombasa’s Moi International Airport, which he described as a critical step in improving global air connectivity. He emphasized working with all stakeholders to push for open skies policy, aiming for direct access to 320 cities globally. Some of the world airlines that used to travel to Mombasa directly included Qatar Airways, KLM Royal Dutch, and Emirates among others.
Ultimately, Nassir calls for concerted efforts to achieve the ambitious tourism target of attracting five million international visitors by 2027. ‘This is about unlocking new opportunities, building resilience in our tourism economy and ensuring Mombasa claims its rightful place on the global meetings and business tourism map,’ he said.