Tourism earnings in Kenya rose 31 percent in the first six months to June compared to a similar period last year as the sector benefited from the ongoing global recovery.

The Kenya Tourism Board (KTB) data shows that the sector booked Ksh152.6 billion ($1.06 billion) in the six months, up from Ksh116.2 billion ($807.79 million) in 2022.

The earnings improved as visitor arrivals grew to 847,810 from 642,861 arrivals in a similar period in 2022, representing a 32 percent increase.

International travel and tourism were among the hardest hit by Covid-19 and had been projected to rebound to pre-pandemic levels in 2023.

“The tourism sector in Kenya experienced a remarkable upswing in international arrivals leading to a positive effect on the country’s tourism receipts,” said the KTB in a report released on Tuesday.

“This performance is a 92 percent recovery when compared to the 2019 performance of 929,814 arrivals same period. Of significance is that June 2023 arrivals closed at 168,051. This is a growth of one percent when compared to 166,692.”

During the period under review, holidays remained the main purpose of entry closing at 338,509 (39.9 percent). Business, meetings and conferences came in second with 226,908 arrivals, a growth of 26.8 percent while visiting family and friends was third with 213,417 arrivals at 25.2 percent.

Transit passengers were 44,620 (5.3 percent). Other purposes were education, medical, religion and sports, closing at 24,356, representing 2.9 percent growth.

The data shows that the top five international arrivals by country are the US (118,480), Uganda (89,968), Tanzania (69,777), the UK (65,563) and India (42,805).

Some key markets have surpassed 2019 (January-June) performance, notably the US by seven percent in 2019 from 110,743 to 118,480, Italy by 15.6 percent from 22,017 to 25,451, Germany by four percent from 32,142 to 33,418, Rwanda by 34.5 percent from 18,845 to 25,422, Ethiopia by 66.1 percent from 11,018 to 18,296.

Others were the Netherlands by 6.9 percent from 19,123 to 20,442, Nigeria by 7.3 percent, from 15,307 to 16,424, Ghana by 28.1percent from 5,137 to 6,583 and Russia by 40.8 percent from 2,514 to 3,539.

During the period under review, domestic tourism had a positive growth, with bed nights recording a 16 percent increase in the year 2023 (January – June) closing at 2.3 million, compared to 2.02 million.

The best-performing months were April and June which can be attributed to the Easter holidays and business travel respectively.