Overview of destination Kenya
Why choose Kenya
Kenya is the largest and most advanced economy and strategically located as a gateway to East and Central Africa, with strong growth prospects supported by an emerging, urban middle class and an increasing appetite for high-value goods and services.
Jomo Kenyatta International Airport functions as an effective air hub between Africa, Europe and Asia.
Kenya has a long history of trade and industry with the largest international seaport in East Africa, Kilindini Harbour in the Port of Mombasa, through which goods from Arabian and Asian traders have entered the African continent for many centuries.
Kenya serves as the Communication Hub of the region.
Tropical Climate
Generally, Kenya’s climate is warm and humid at the coast, cool and humid in the central highlands, and hot and dry in the north and east. Visitors and delegates are able to enjoy most activities in the cities, beaches and in the national parks all year round
Safety
Kenya is listed among the 80 global destinations certified and authorized to use the World Travel and Tourism Council Safe Travel Stamp together with our Magical Kenya logo; this stamp is a recognition of Kenya as a safe destination.
A thriving business and innovation hub
With a population of 47+ million and growing, Kenya is a place for creativity and nurturing ideas. Even as companies thrive in this digital age, physical space matters. In Kenya, innovation happens in innovative spaces, whether co-working offices, accelerators or incubators.
The official business language in Kenya is English whilst Swahili is the official and most widely spoken local language.
Africa’s second largest number of trade, industry and professional associations are headquartered in Kenya with over 225 recorded in the Registrar of Societies database
Easy VISA Processing
Kenya’s visa access process is straightforward, facilitated through e-Visas or visas on arrival; visitors are met by a team of immigration experts who facilitate delegates with a smile.
Venue & Accomodation
Our extensive range of venues means that we can host any group size from 3 to 3,000! Facilities include purpose-built convention centres and hotel venues that cater for large-scale conferencing. With 7,000+ hotel rooms, in the 3 to 5-star graded categories in Nairobi’s central business district and Kenya’s secondary cities (according to the Ministry of Tourism and Wildlife), finding and choosing a venue and accommodation to suit all planning requirements is effortless
Exceptional cuisine
Fresh, diverse, globally-inspired and gourmet are just a few of the words visitors use to describe our exceptional dining scene. Being home to a melting pot of cultures, Kenya offers a range of traditional and modern cuisines throughout the country. The foods universally eaten are ugali (cornmeal), sukuma wiki (greens/kale), and nyama choma (roasted meat) the pride of all Kenyan food. Kenya's coastal seafood cuisine is unique and particularly highly regarded.
Unique Culture
Kenya has over seventy distinct ethnic communities, speaking close to eighty different dialects; all united under the striped green black and red national flag (green for the land, black for the people and red for the blood spilt during the struggle for freedom). Kenyan unity is expressed in the national motto ‘Harambee', which translates as ‘Let's all pull together'.
Despite the numerous ethnic tribes Kenyans embrace a great sense of unity, peace, acceptance and closeness as one people and one country; strong virtues of our traditional African culture. The Kenyan people are warm, friendly and hospitable.
A Natural wonder of the world
Seven UNESCO World Heritage Sites are listed in Kenya with another 17 on the tentative list. Lamu Old Town, Kenya’s oldest living city, is known for being the best-preserved Swahili settlement in East Africa. Also on the coast is the Sacred Mijikenda Kaya Forests with the fortified villages of the Mijikenda people created in the 16th Century.
Other World Heritage Sites include the home of Mount Kenya Forest Reserve, a UNESCO biosphere reserve and the second highest mountain in Africa, Fort Jesus in Mombasa, a historical monument built by the Portuguese in 1593, Lake Turkana National Park known for its migratory waterfowl and extensive paleontological finds, as well as the important Thimlich Ohinga archaeological site. Other unexploited gems of Kenya include the Kenya lake system of the Great Rift Valley, the Ruins of Gedi, built in the 14th century to encourage the Arab-African trade and the world renowned wildebeest migration in Maasai Mara, one of the natural wonders of the world.
We host great events
Kenya has an exceptional track record of hosting major international events and large-scale conferences to world-class standards, from the fourteenth session of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD 14) that brought together Heads of State and Government, ministers and other prominent players from the business world, civil society and academia to tackle global trade and economic development issues, The Sixth Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD-VI) Summit held at Kenyatta International Convention Centre in Nairobi, Kenya on 27-28 August 2016 to sporting tournaments like Kenya Open Golf tournament, among others to the International Conference on Population and Developments HLM2. 9TH ACP Summit of Heads state and government and Sustainable Blue Economy Conference in 2019.
Market access
Kenya’s membership to regional economic blocs coupled with its strategic geographic position makes the country the gateway to the huge East African Community (EAC) market with over 135 million people and the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) market with over 450 million people.
Kenya is a beneficiary of several trade preferential arrangements which includes the African Growth and Opportunities Act (AGOA) that allows for quota and duty free access to the USA market for over 6,000 items produced in Kenya, and the new Africa Caribbean and Pacific-European Union (ACP-EU) Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) that gives duty free access to the EU among others