Hotel officials in Frankfurt to sell conference tourism

Five hotel executives are in a government delegation attending Imex Fair to market Nairobi as a conference tourism hub.

The Kenyan delegation—comprising tourism ministry officials, KICC representatives, Heritage Hotels, Intercontinental Hotel, Pride Inn Hotel, Radisson Blu Hotel, Safari Park Hotel and event planner Zuri Events—expects to reap business leads that could lure foreign governments and multinationals to hold events in Kenya.

Imex Fair in Frankfurt has attracted 3,500 exhibitors among them the Kenyan delegation that will host 60 buyer appointments and several group presentations. “Kenya’s rightful share of the meetings industry globally can only be achieved through aggressive marketing activities like the IMEX show. The Ministry of Tourism and KICC are joined by partners from private sector in the show,” said KICC chief executive officer Nana Gecaga.

Kenya’s marketing offensive is informed by a growing clientele of companies that send employees here for meetings mixed with leisure.

Nairobi’s offering of a city with an active wild animal sanctuary remains an attractive location with last year recording a 37.33 percent rise in arrivals at two million compared to 1.5 million the previous year.