Kenya Tourism Board to develop online destination specialist programme for Indian travel agents

Looks at growth of 15-20 per cent in Indian visitor arrivals this year

KAHINI CHAKRABORTY - Mumbai

Jennifer Opondo

After witnessing a growth of 24 per cent and attracting 59,000 Indian visitors last year, the Kenya Tourist Board (KTB) is going to develop its first online destination specialist programme for Indian travel agents by next financial year.  It is looking at 15-20 per cent growth in Indian visitor arrivals this year. Talking to Express TravelWorld on the sidelines of a roadshow organised in Mumbai recently Jennifer Opondo, director marketing, KTB said, “We are in the process of developing an online destination specialist programme for travel agents in India by next financial year. We currently have the online specialist programmes for our traditional markets like USA, UK, Germany.” The areas that the programme will cover will be how to sell Kenya, its unique selling points, various products, different kinds of safaris, level of services, etc.  “We will ensure that what the travel agents learn is in line with our strategy. We will also be sharing information of potential clients,” added Opondo. For the roadshow the tourism board has brought down a delegation of 17 companies that include hoteliers, tour operators and Kenya Wildlife Service.

The tourism board is looking at targeting high net worth individuals from segments such as family, honeymoon, wedding and MICE. “One of the other key areas that we are keen on developing and promoting is the sports area. Kenya is a sporting nation and we are certainly inviting Indians to visit Kenya and its golf courses. We are terming this as golf safaris. We have about 40 odd golf courses around the country. Apart from the wildlife and the big five experience, we are also promoting a coastal experience which is not only about beach experiences but also culture, history, culinary and water based adventure,” informed Opondo.

Talking about the marketing strategies planned, Opondo said, “Our strategy is to move towards new and emerging developing markets for which India is definitely on the radar. We are seeing Asia and Gulf region as one of our growth markets. Of that particular region, we are putting more emphasis on India and China.”

Further as part of its India plans, KTB’s main focus is to increase the level of awareness for Kenya in the market and ensure that the travel industry and consumers understand the diverse tourism offerings of Kenya. To ensure that travel agents in India have diversity in their product offerings for Kenya, the tourism board is also looking at conducting a number of offline training programmes, workshops, FAM trips. When asked about the investment that the tourism board has chalked out for its marketing efforts, Opondo added, “We are increasing our budgets and activities in the Indian market and have done that every year. As our financial year begins from July we have recently put in our application for the next financial year. Hence we will not be able to talk about the actual budget for the Indian market until June.”

Besides this, the Kenya film commission is also looking at the Bollywood segment. “The Kenya film commission works closely with Kenya tourism board. “We are still in the planning stages in terms of studying the market requirements. The board is keen on promoting the Great Rift Valley and Nairobi as shooting locations to Bollywood industry,” added Opondo.