Kenya’s tourism sector has just turned in its best financial year on record. International arrivals climbed to 2.76 million in 2025/26, a rise of 9.8 per cent on the year before, Tourism and Wildlife Cabinet Secretary Rebecca Miano announced.
Arrivals have more than doubled since 2021/22, when the country welcomed just 1.21 million visitors. Miano said the trajectory reflects growing global confidence in Kenya as a travel destination, built year on year through 2022/23, 2023/24 and 2024/25.
Five Years of Steady Growth
| Financial year | International arrivals | Tourism revenue (KSh billion) | Domestic bed nights |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021/22 | 1.21M | 224B | 4.00M |
| 2022/23 | 1.76M | 297B | 4.52M |
| 2023/24 | 2.34M | 410B | 4.82M |
| 2024/25 | 2.52M | 476B | 5.02M |
| 2025/26 | 2.76M | 564B | 5.15M |
Source: Ministry of Tourism and Wildlife
Every single year in that stretch shows an increase, a pattern the ministry points to as evidence of sustained recovery rather than a one off rebound.
Earnings Beat Target by KSh35 Billion
Tourism earnings hit a record KSh564 billion in 2025/26, sailing past the ministry’s own target of KSh529 billion. That figure represents growth of 18.7 per cent over the KSh476 billion earned in 2024/25.
Miano attributed the jump to two forces working together: more visitors, and each visitor spending more. Average expenditure per international traveller rose from KSh189,000 to KSh204,298 over the year.
The gains build on momentum Khusoko has tracked through the year. The Kenya Tourism Board’s partnership with Visa aimed to sharpen destination marketing and payments infrastructure after arrivals grew 15 per cent to 2.4 million in calendar year 2024. Earlier still, Khusoko reported a 6.1 per cent rise in February 2025 arrivals, driven by expanded flight routes and the electronic travel authorisation system.
Domestic Travel Lags Its Target
Domestic tourism grew too, though more modestly. Bed nights rose 2.6 per cent to 5.15 million, up from 5.02 million in 2024/25. That figure came in 554,000 short of the sector’s 5.70 million target.
Miano said the shortfall does not undercut the broader picture. She described the domestic numbers as proof of sustained local demand and a hospitality industry still finding its footing after years of disruption.
A Wider Sector Picture
Separate data from the Tourism Research Institute’s Annual Tourism Sector Performance Report 2025, covering the calendar year rather than the government’s financial year, offers additional texture. That report recorded 2,652,540 international arrivals in 2025, up 7.2 per cent from 2,474,551 in 2024, with earnings rising 10.55 per cent to KSh501.34 billion. The United States remained Kenya’s leading source market with 304,491 arrivals, followed by Uganda and Tanzania, while China posted the sharpest jump of any market, adding nearly 18,000 visitors year on year.
The institute’s report also flagged 250,603 arrivals from the Kenyan diaspora in 2025, a segment officials describe as a stable, high spending base that keeps flowing even when broader international travel slows.
Looking further out, the World Travel and Tourism Council had projected Kenya’s travel and tourism sector would contribute KSh1.2 trillion to the national economy in 2025, supporting 1.7 million jobs and equal to roughly 7 per cent of GDP.
Government Credits Policy Reforms
Miano linked the sector’s performance to a mix of government initiatives: diversifying tourism products, sharpening destination marketing and improving the visitor experience. She said the results reinforce tourism’s role in job creation, foreign exchange earnings and support for businesses across hospitality, transport and conservation.
The government intends to keep investing in strategies that strengthen Kenya’s standing as a global tourism destination, Miano said, while pushing to grow domestic travel so that hotels, parks and coastal resorts see visitors throughout the year, not just in peak season.
For an industry that spent much of the early 2020s clawing back from pandemic losses, the 2025/26 numbers mark a turning point: Kenya’s tourism sector is no longer just recovering. It is setting new records.
