Barbados Tourism Marketing Inc (BTMI) used its platform at the Magical Kenya Travel Expo in Nairobi to call for direct air links with Kenya, saying the lack of year-round flights is the biggest obstacle to converting Kenyan interest into visits.
BTMI director for Africa and the Middle East Kyle Gittens noted that Barbados is visa-free for Kenyan travellers but currently has no direct service, forcing visitors to connect via the United Kingdom, the United States or, in the October-to-April winter period, through Amsterdam on KLM, which offers a visa-free transit option.
Gittens said the agency is working closely with the Kenya Tourism Board and airline partners to establish direct connections, and highlighted BTMI’s membership of the Kenya Association of Travel Agents and the Tour Operator Society of Kenya as avenues for two-way traffic.
BTMI established its Africa and Gulf Cooperation Council regional headquarters in Nairobi in February to develop relationships with travel-trade players across the region.
The agency also pointed to the recent launch of twice-monthly direct flights from Lagos, Nigeria, operated by Air Peace, as a step toward improved connectivity from Africa.
Gittens told the expo that Barbados recorded just under one million arrivals from long-stay and cruise visitors and that arrivals between January and September rose 24 per cent year-on-year, while arrivals from Africa and the GCC rose 38 per cent year-on-year.
“The African travel market is a very important market for destination Barbados,” Gittens said, adding that “Tourism is everybody’s business; let’s play our part.”
Cabinet Secretary for Tourism and Wildlife Rebecca Miano said technology and artificial intelligence are essential for modernising Kenya’s tourism promotion, remarking that “The traveller of today bears little resemblance to the traveller of yesteryear” and urging destinations to innovate.
The expo brought together a record 10,000 delegates from over 40 countries, more than 400 exhibitors and 250 quality-vetted international buyers, providing a platform for the tourism ties Gittens hopes to deepen, including a possible memorandum of understanding with the Kenya Tourism Board.
