Kenyans in Germany to market the country's conference tourism

Kenya is among 150 plus countries attending this year's international IMEX fair in Frankfurt, Germany. At least 7 Kenyan business tourism stakeholders are among the 3,500 exhibitors at the fair.

The conference tourism industry players led by Joe Okudo, the tourism principal secretary in the Ministry of Tourism, will market and position Kenya as a world renowned business events destination at the show.

IMEX is an annual world exhibition for Meetings, Incentives Travel, Conventions and Events or MICE. The show which opened on Tuesday is a three-day event with over 150 countries participating.

The Kenyatta International Convention Centre or KICC, the state parastatal mandated to market and position Kenya for conference tourism both locally and internationally, is coordinating country's participation at the show on behalf of the ministry.

Nana Gecaga, chief executive officer of KICC said, it's the high time Kenya took up its rightful share of the meetings industry globally, which can only be achieved through aggressive marketing activities like the IMEX show.

"The Ministry of Tourism and KICC are joined by partners from private sector in the show. This year's increase in partner members is a show that Kenya is taking up its position as the preferred Conference Tourism destination in Africa," she said.

The private sector participants joining the Ministry and KICC include Heritage Hotels, Pride inn, Radisson Blu, Safari Park Hotel, Intercontinental Hotel and Zuri Events.

The show is expected to reap business leads that will be followed up as potential conferences and events to be hosted in Kenya. Kenya has a total of 60 hosted buyer appointments and several group presentations that will be providing leads for potential conventions and incentives travel to Kenya.

The IMEX show attracts over 14,000 participants from across the globe, with over 67,000 scheduled appointments distributed to all the exhibitors.

IMEX gives countries opportunities to meet important conference buyers, global professional event organizers, and heads of association bodies with affiliate companies worldwide, among other global meetings industry players that are key to influencing where international conferences will be held.

KICC and other industry stakeholders participating at the show have seized the opportunity to meet influencers and key decision makers of conferences scheduled for Africa and woo them to bring the conferences to Kenya.

Kenya has recently raised its profile owing to the high-end international conferences it has hosted in the recent past, thereby making its bid to host more international conferences much easier.