KTB chairman Jake Grieves-Cook said the figures were encouraging and underline the importance of tourism in the economy.
"Tourism is on an upward course but we have to improve our roads especially to the [game] parks," he told reporters yesterday during the board's annual briefing in Nairobi.
The board attributed the growth mainly to the improved air capacity provided by most airlines and aggressive marketing campaign in new and traditional source markets.
Visitor arrivals for the 2006 were 1.8 million compared to 1.6 million in 2005.
International conference arrivals by air and sea increased by 31 per cent from 12,634 in 2005 to 16,663 last year.
Notably, business travel recorded 58 per cent growth in 2006. Similarly, the holiday arrivals were more or less stable at 2.5 per cent, recording 607,000 in 2006 from 592,000.
"The slow down in holiday travel is attributed to the limited bed capacity that the destination is experiencing currently," KTB managing director Ongong'a Achieng said.
Despite the travel warning by the US government against Kenya, the North American market has regained the second position that it held for a brief period in 2005. It closed 2006 at a record 86,528 US visitors.
This represents a 17.6 per cent growth over 2005. The achievement is attributed to consumer advertising and intensive education of travel agents, carried out by KTB.
The UK maintained its leading position in 2006 with 171,409 air and sea arrivals. This growth is expected to continue in 2007 following the announcement that Virgin Atlantic will introduce daily flights from London to Nairobi on June 1.
Source: The Nation
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