By Zachary Ochieng
For more than 60 years, Kenya’s tourism pitch has been remarkably simple: come for the wildlife, stay for the beaches and leave with memories of Africa.
It worked. Tourism became a major source of foreign exchange and jobs, helping create a powerful hospitality industry. But the sector has also been forced to reinvent itself through terrorism, economic shocks and the unprecedented disruption of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Now Kenya is facing a different challenge: not finding attractions, but finding more people to visit them.
That is where the United Arab Emirates comes in.
A new partnership between the
Kenya Tourism Board (KTB) and Emirates airline is designed to put Kenya in front of more travellers by using Dubai’s position as one of the world’s biggest aviation and tourism hubs.
Kenya wants to attract 50,000 visitors from the Middle East, more than twice the 20,480 recorded in the 2025/26 financial year.
At an estimated average spending of Sh300,000 per international visitor, that target could translate into about Sh15bn in tourism revenue.
But the UAE’s importance goes beyond the number of Emirati tourists arriving in Kenya.
Dubai is a global crossroads, with Emirates connecting passengers to nearly 140 destinations. A traveller from Singapore, Tokyo or Kuala Lumpur can reach Nairobi through Dubai with a single connection.
The airline’s existing interline partnership with Kenya Airways also allows travellers to combine flights and reach destinations such as Zanzibar, Kigali, Juba and Victoria Falls.
For Kenya, the challenge is turning that connectivity into bookings.
KTB chief executive June Chepkemei says the tourism board is moving “from visibility to conversion” – measuring success not simply by how many people see Kenya advertised, but by how many actually book flights and spend money in the country.
The partnership includes joint marketing campaigns, familiarisation trips for travel agents, and visits by journalists and influencers.
But there are hurdles.
Tourists can be put off by anything from complicated travel requirements to delays in obtaining permits and visas. Kenya’s electronic travel authorisation system, introduced in 2024, requires visitors to secure approval before travelling.
The stakes are high. Kenya recorded about 2.7 million international visitors in 2025/26 and generated roughly Sh500bn in tourism earnings, with the government targeting Sh1tn annually.
The UAE could help Kenya reach new travellers, but success will depend on what happens after the marketing campaigns.
If Dubai becomes more than a place where tourists change planes – and instead becomes a gateway through which the world discovers Kenya – the benefits could stretch from airports to hotels, restaurants, tour operators and communities around the country’s major attractions.
The author is a Global Communications Strategist and former Business and Technology Editor