Kenya's tourism sector is looking positive for the year ahead, based on statistics showing growth in 2021.

According to the annual Tourism Sector Performance Report 2021, arrivals rose, with the US the top source market for tourists – recording 136 981 arrivals for the year.

Kenya’s Cabinet Secretary for Tourism & Wildlife, Najib Balala, said there had been a 7% increase in tourists visiting Kenyan Wildlife Services parks and reserves in 2021 – a total of 1.2 million visitors compared with 913 000 visitors in 2020.

There were 870 465 international visitor arrivals 2021, representing growth of 53% over the previous year, when arrivals were 567 848. The resurgence of the virus in the first half of 2021, characterised by the Delta variant, slowed anticipated recovery, but marked improvement started from June.

On the performance of international and domestic passenger flights, the report signalled a steady recovery. Total passenger flight landings at the airports grew by 44% compared with 2020. However, this was still 37.5% below the pre-pandemic traffic.

The full report can be found here.