Kenya’s tourism industry, which plummeted following political turmoil in 2007, has recovered to almost pre-2007 election levels. The number of tourism arrivals have risen 90 percent from last year, according to tourism minister Najib Balala, and is expected levels to return to 2007 levels by March.

Speaking at the ninth Lamu Cultural Festival, he added that the influx will be buoyed by a large number of visitors during the European winter season as visitors arrive to enjoy the warm weather over the holiday season.

The number of charter flights to Mombasa is expected to soar to 30 a week compared to the current 20. New airlines in Belgium, Holland and France, as well as Ethiopian Airlines, are adding flights to Mombasa.

Mr Balala told Kenyan newspaper Daily Nation: “I am happy that our marketing campaigns in Europe and other continents have started to bear fruit. The sector has recovered by 90 per cent, and we expect fully recovery by March next year. We have seen new airlines from Europe launching direct flights to Mombasa, and this has boosted the tourist numbers. Next month we expect most of the hotels at the Coast to be packed with guests.”