CS Balala leads Kenya in attending world travel market event in London

NAIROBI, Kenya, Nov 2 – Tourism Cabinet Secretary Najib Balala is currently representing Kenya which is among 140 countries attending the world travel market 2021 event held in London, United Kingdom (UK).

The three-day event, which is happening after a two-year-long break as a result of the COVID pandemic, commenced on November 1 and was attended by travel professionals in the world who would gather to come up with a recovery plan that would boost the world’s tourism sector to greater heights since the onset of the pandemic.

Balala said that the event was an opportunity for the country to showcase measures it had put in place to ensure the tourism sector was not hit hard by the pandemic.

“This is an opportunity for us to activate our markets, show our readiness for business in compliance with protocols towards mitigation of Covid-19 pandemic. UK is our key market and Kenya is excited to be part of the countries showcasing in this tourism fair,” Balala said.

He further added that this would provide a chance for Kenya to lure more visitors from the UK and Europe at large and be recognized as a top destination that is safe and ready for travel.

“We are glad to be back after a two-year break to leverage this opportunity to not only showcase our tourism offerings and experiences to the world, but also to interact with other tourism players from across the globe and in the process gain great insights on how to better our industry,” he said.

KTB CEO Betty Radier, on her part, said the tourism sector is working towards recovering numbers from the international market after the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic.

“Events like WTM give us an opportunity to understand what travelers are looking out for. The fact that this is one of the international events being held this year physically is an indication that we are heading for the recovery path of global tourism and travel. We are also glad that travelers from the UK and the larger Europe can now come to Kenya without much restriction as we continue to scale up covid-19 mitigation measures,” he said.

Between January to September this year, Kenya received 27,036 visitors from the UK market marking the largest number of tourists arriving from Europe.