Interview: Kenya's Tourism Minister on Making a Big Bet on Business Travel

This week United States President Barack Obama returned to Kenya for the first time since visiting in 2006 when he was a U.S. Senator. Like a growing number of Kenyan visitors, he's coming to Nairobi for business, in his case Nairobi's Global Entrepreneurship Summit. The Summit is just one in a growing number of international business gatherings in Kenya's capital in the coming year, and signals a renewed focus on the city as one of Africa's premier destinations for meetings and business. Last week, Skift sat down with Phyllis Kandie, Kenya's Cabinet Secretary for East African Affairs, Commerce and Tourism. She was joined by three colleagues: Anne Kinyua, who is Kenya's Tourism Secretary; John Kaplich, the group's Communications Director; and Jacinta Nzioka, Kenya Tourism Board's Marketing Director. The group was on a press tour in New York City in hopes of shifting the conversation about Kenyan tourism away from headline-friendly news such as an ongoing concern over terrorism that was best illustrated by the deadly terrorist attack on Nairobi's Westgate mall in fall 2013. It's also dealt with a downturn thanks to Ebola fears, despite the fact that Miami, FL is as close to the west African outbreak as Nairobi is. It's made recent moves to simplify the visiting experience, such as adding an e-visa option to supplement the existing visa-on-arrival program. It's also continuing to push its East African shared visa with Kenya, Rwanda, and Uganda. Skift: When you look ahead either to this year or 2016, what are you excited about? Minister Kandie: I can tell you with all confidence that we are seeing growth in tourism sector, seeing the numbers coming back over the next one year or so. There's a new or re-imagined confidence in Kenya as a destination. We're confident that after this tour that we've just had in the U.S. over the past one week, that we're convinced that trade is excited again. Kenya is back. We're seeing a growth and for us it's not just about tourists. We're seeing a re-imagined market in terms of business tourists many b