Kenya eyes more Chinese tourists after Jack Ma's visit

Kenya's tourism marketers on Sunday promised to bring more Chinese tourists to the East African nation after a visit by Chinese business magnate Jack Ma.[Photo/Xinhua]

A top 10 wholesaler of Africa and Middle East General Manager Johnson Chen disclosed that his company has received several inquires about Kenya that has been in the limelight in connection to Jack's visit and other China's development projects in Kenya, including Standard Gauge Railways.

"We anticipate to register an increase of travelers to Kenya in the month of September through to October, Kenya is now among the top sale destination owing to positives associations between the two countries," said Chen.

The tour operators were speaking over the weekend during promotional marketing campaigns by KTB in China's cities of Beijing, Shangai and Guangzhou.

KTB launched online mobile training for travel agents selling Kenya's products to enhance their knowledge on tourism packages the country is offering.

The marketing body has also planned to produce a destination video specifically for the Chinese market to sustain top of mind destination awareness among the Chinese.

The General Manager for Joy Way, an international travel company Eric Zhu said Kenya will host more family travelers from next year through a kid's safari package that the company has developed.

"Family travel segment to Kenya is increasingly becoming popular. In partnership with Kenya Airways, we are packaging this product around wildlife and the train services that cater for large groups and corporate clients," he said.

During his visit to Kenya, the Chinese business mogul known and respected globally for his innovative business solutions, said he saw a great future in Africa and urged both political and business leaders in the continent to embrace innovation.

Insisting the growth of technology in this era was the third phase of a global business development cycle, Jack said the new phase of technology development, driven by intelligence systems, would require the development of brains and innovations where innovation would replace human beings.