Kenya markets new Nairobi-New York route at New York Marathon

Using the huge Kenya contingent of elite participants and the global platform of the annual New York Marathon, the Kenyan Tourism Board stepped upped efforts to market of the recently inaugurated Nairobi-New York route by Kenya Airways.

Kenya’s marketing arm, Kenya Tourism Board has stepped efforts to leverage on the launch of Kenya Airways’ inaugural non-stop, direct flight from New York City to Nairobi by reaching out to Kenyans living in the U.S.

This is against this backdrop that KTB has held a forum in New York City which saw about 140 Kenyans working in New York and the surrounding states attend. The forum was organized in collaboration with the Brand Kenya Board.

According to KTB, the meeting marked the beginning of a long-term relationship with the diaspora with a view of amplifying the positive narrative of the country through identifying destination champions among Kenyans in the diaspora.

Addressing the event, Kenya’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations in New York, Ambassador Lazarus Amayo and Kenya’s Ambassador to the United States of America, Robinson Githae called upon the diaspora to be Kenya’s number one champions in dissemination of positives messages about Kenya.

The Kenyans in diaspora, they observed, are the first contact persons about the destination and were best in telling the positive stories of the country. Other speakers at the event were Laikipia County Governor, Ndiritu Muriithi and the Chairman of the Kenya National Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Kiprono Kittony.

The event came hot on the heels of the launch of KQ’s US direct flight that is expected to increase the number of visitors from US to Kenya by about 15%.

The destination was also amplified with the Richard Quest’s visit to Nairobi that saw his global following both on CNN and his social media platforms experience a close up view of various tourist attractions in Nairobi that he visited such as the Nairobi National Park, the Giraffe Manor and the Nairobi Railway Museum.

KTB has also embarked on other various activities including advertisement and promotional campaigns in strategic locations within the city aimed at increasing Kenya’s visibility.

New York City Marathon focused attention on Kenya with top marathoners Geoffrey Kamworor, Daniel Wanjiru, Festus Talam, Mary Keitany and Vivian Cheruiyot representing Kenya at the event. KTB used the opportunity afforded by the marathon to enhance the destination’s visibility.