Kenya expects the peaceful referendum on its new constitution to boost tourism and that visitor numbers in 2010 may surpass 2007's record, Kenya's state-run Tourist Board (KTB) Managing Director Muriithi Ndegwa said.
Kenya's third largest source of foreign exchange after horticulture and tea exports earned 65.4 billion shillings ($809.8 million) in 2007 but was the worst affected sector by bloody post-election fighting and the global economic slowdown the following year. The country will promulgate the new constitution on Friday after Kenyans overwhelming endorsed it in a vote on August 4.
The peaceful conduct of the vote, in contrast to 2007's general election that degenerated into weeks of murderous violence, had put the country in a good light.
"The referendum itself was done in a very professional and very calm way. As a result of that we believe that this gives a very strong statement of endorsement of the country as a tourist destination," Ndegwa told Reuters in an interview on Thursday.
"Especially if you look at the background in terms of what happened in 2008, we do believe that this feel-good effect will have a very positive bearing on tourism going forward."
Guarantees of a new charter - to replace one in place since independence in 1963 - were central to a power-sharing deal in 2008 that ended the violent crisis. KTB said last week tourist arrivals rose to 483,000 in the first half of 2010, surpassing 477,000 in the first half of 2007.
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