KENYA’S ITB ATTENDANCE AWARDED WITH PRIZE FOR SECOND BEST AFRICAN STAND
(Posted 22nd March 2016)
It was a new game this year at ITB when the award winners for Best African Stand were revealed at the end of the world’s largest tourism trade show.
In the past did winners regularly come from Eastern Africa, at one stage taking all top three positions, but this year did Egypt steal the show with an impressive stand and a great performance of their staff. Egypt needed such a ‘win‘ as the country’s tourism industry over the past years stumbled from crisis to crisis and the award for best stand will hopefully translate in more tourist visitors again.
Closer to home though did Kenya come in an impressive runner up in second place, validating the efforts made by the Kenya Tourism Board and the private sector to put on a show of confidence. Here too will no doubt this accomplishment be seen as a pointer towards better days ahead as Kenya’s tourism industry is set for a full scale revival this year.
The presence of Cabinet Secretary Najib Balala – his media conference was hailed as the best of its kind during this year’s ITB – who came with a bag full of goodies in form of incentives for airlines and tour operators, also made a lot of difference as his experience on the international stage was fully utilized.
Third came Tunesia, also a country which tourism sector has been struggling following several terrorist attacks last year and where the tourism board too saw ITB as a great platform to restore market confidence.
Other East African countries at ITB were tight lipped over their performance, perhaps in part for not performing up to their own high standards set and failing to bring home a trophy to show that they generated added value for their investment to exhibit.
Uganda notably came 10th in the rankings of best stands, giving both the Uganda Tourism Board and the Ministry of Tourism fodder for thought why the country dropped that low from much better rankings during past ITB attendances.
Congratulations to Jacinta Nzioka – and her team – who as AG CEO of the Kenya Tourism Board was overall responsible for putting up the Kenyan stand and the country’s performance in Berlin.
4 Responses
Thanks for this post – you mention that Uganda’s 10th position was a drop from previous rankings; please tell us a little more about this so we (the general public) can assess our performance against a background of reality? Also, what was Kenya’s position overall, as the story suggests that they were 2nd best “African stand”- or was it 2nd best overall?
Uganda ranked as high as third place which was a real achievement but sadly that trend was not maintained.
Kenya this year ended up as the runner up to Egypt which claimed the award for Best African Exhibitor and
Tunisia came in third.
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