Kenya’s struggling tourism industry is on its way to a comeback . The country’s tourism industry has faced some serious setbacks in recent years. In fact, arrivals plummeted by 31 percent during the period between 2012 and 2015. The dip was mainly a result of terrorist attacks that targeted civilians at malls and other places. A brutal attack at a mall in Nairobi in 2013 had particularly detrimental consequences for Kenya’s tourism industry. Many Western governments were forced to issue severe travel warnings for citizens thinking about visiting Kenya following that deadly attack. In addition, an outbreak of Ebola in West Africa caused many people to avoid the region for the most part.
The good news is that things are looking up for Kenya as the world heads into 2019. The U.S. State Department lists Kenya’s safeness at the same level as France, Mexico and the United Kingdom. Kenya actually experienced an increase of almost 10 percent in arrivals in 2017. American tourists seem to be taking an interest in visiting Kenya. Air traffic between the United States and Kenya has grown by 20 percent in the past two years. That’s probably why Kenya Airways was inspired to introduce a new direct route between New York and Nairobi . The daily route began connecting Jomo Kenyatta International Airport and John F. Kennedy International Airport this fall.
Getting clearance to offer a direct flight between the Big Apple and Kenya’s biggest city was no easy feat for Kenya Airways. The airline had to go through a long vetting process in order to achieve Category 1 safety status under the guidelines set by the International Civil Aviation Organization. The success of that effort means that travelers now have a quicker way than ever before to get between the East Coast of the United States and Kenya. The direct route between New York and Nairobi only takes about 14 hours. Travelers previously had to travel for 20 hours using flights with layovers.
Scott Dylan is a contributing writer at GET.com and has been to (almost) every country in North, Central and South America with nothing more than a backpack, a laptop and the desire to explore. He speaks Spanish fluently and has logged enough time in planes, trains, rideshares, buses, taxis and rickshaws to know how to rack up rewards and points to get anywhere his heart desires for pennies on the dollar. Email: […]
