Kenyan Medalists to Get KTB Complementary for Holiday

By David Ndolo

Kenya Tourism Board (KTB) has offered complementary for holiday to all Team Kenya medalists at the 2024 Paris Olympic Games, CEO June Chepkemei said.

Speaking at the Kenya House in Hotel de Ville in Paris, France, on Sunday, Chepkemei said this would serve as the best appreciation gift for the athletes. She reiterated that athletes are among Kenya’s best ambassadors and rewarding them is part of the departments embrace for sports tourism.

“We have started working with athletes as our brand ambassadors. We believe they represent the country at the global stage better than anything else,” said Chepkemei, adding: “Paris Olympics is just the beginning.”

“All the medalists will have an opportunity to tour and experience Kenyan destinations,” she said.

Chepkemei said they are hard at work in ensuring Paris Olympics exposes Kenya’s trade and investment opportunities, away from destination offerings.

“Olympics is a great opportunity that a country can exploit in showcasing itself,” she said. “It’s a platform for us to be represented, not only within the fields but outside and show that we are much more than the world thinks (about us).”

“We also want to prevail upon them (tourists) to come home and feel what it is to be Kenyan. We believe the human origin is in Kenya. “She said tourist numbers are rising compared to pre and during the Covid 19.”We had a maximum of two million tourists before Covid, which went down (during the pandemic). However, the numbers are rising, though not to what we anticipated.”

“The two million is back but we are targeting more than five million, “she revealed. “We had more than one million in the first half of the year, a rise from 600 in the previous.”