KENYA TOURISM BOARD INTENSIFIES DESTINATION MARKETING IN CHINA
(Posted 21st March 2018)
The Kenya Tourism Board is scheduled to launch a video marketing campaign in a program that begins with the unveiling of a custom-made Chinese-language destination video targeted at the Chinese travel market.
Speaking ahead of the launch of the video, KTB Chief Executive Officer Dr. Betty Radier said the new destination video will position Kenya as a high value tourist destination offering a diverse range of authentic experiences. In addition to this, the new video is expected to stir consumer interest and desire to visit non-traditional regions/circuits such as Mt. Kenya, Ol Pejeta, Loisaba and Lamu.
‘A majority of Chinese travelers want to visit Kenya only for the wildebeest migration from July to September. Through the newly launched destination video, we are positioning Kenya as an all year-round destination among Chinese consumers and trade‘.
The video will be launched at a media forum in Beijing on Friday 23rd of March. This will be preceded by media round tables in Guangzhou and Shanghai aimed at updating media localized in these cities on various developments in the destination. The board will be represented at the media events by the PR and Corporate Communications Manager, Ms Wausi Walya. Later in April over 90 travel agents and tour operators in the three cities will be training on repackaging Kenya as a ‘all year round destination.
To increase destination awareness among the targeted consumer segments, KTB will be promoting the new destination video on Chinese social media sites namely WeChat, Weibo and Youku (Youtube) for a period of one month in partnership with Chinese tour operators.
China is currently Kenya’s fifth biggest tourism source market internationally and the second biggest source market in Asia. It contributed 5.5 percent of total international tourist arrivals to Kenya in 2017. The number of tourist arrivals from China to Kenya in 2017 grew by 11.8 percent to 53,485.
China is also one of Kenya’s best performing tourism source markets, having shown a collective 42.9 percent growth since 2011.
The positive performance of the Chinese market has been enhanced by increased air access into Nairobi provided by the national carrier, Kenya Airways and one of China’s leading airlines; China Southern Airlines. Nairobi enjoys easy connectivity to China as there are a number of other airlines that provide flights to Nairobi from China.
Dr. Radier added, “The Chinese market represents a huge opportunity for Kenya’s tourism industry. This is why we are deepening our engagement with Chinese trade and media to increase interest and desire for travel to Kenya among Chinese consumers.”
China is presently not only internationally recognized for its keen interest to engage in travel but have also established themselves as one of the world’s largest tourism spenders.
In its 2017 Tourism Highlights Report, the United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) ranked China as the world’s top spender on tourism with a total expenditure of US$ 261 billion (equivalent to KSh. 26.4 trillion).
According to research findings published by the Fung Business Intelligence Centre (FBIC), it is predicted that total spend by outbound Chinese tourist shoppers will reach over KSh. 42 trillion by 2020, further signifying the importance of China as a tourism source market.
UNWTO has projected that the number of Chinese travelling overseas will reach 200 million by 2030.
