\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Kenya Tourism Board (KTB) is seeking to harness the growing leisure running community in the vast US market that is currently estimated at 50 million runners, to drive tourism to Kenya by promoting it as an ideal destination for running vacations and races.<\/strong><\/p>\n The strategic move is part of KTB\u2019s efforts to tap into the global running community, which stands at slightly over 600 million enthusiasts.<\/p>\n The initiative follows Kenya\u2019s continued dominance in major global marathons with the latest show of marathon excellence witnessed in the recently held Chicago Marathon where Ruth Chepng\u2019etich shattered the women\u2019s world record in 2:09:56 to break the previous mark by nearly two minutes.<\/p>\n According to KTB CEO June Chepkemei, the presence and success of elite Kenyan athletes in such prestigious marathons presents an opportunity to market the destination and drive sports tourism growth given the country\u2019s prowess on the global stage and the international exposure that Kenyan sports men and women have accorded the country over the years.<\/p>\n \u201cKenya has firmly established itself as an athletics powerhouse globally. Our marathoners and long-distance runners continue to conquer the world\u2019s most prestigious marathons. We want to translate this prowess to building Kenya as a go-to destination for sports tourism, starting with running,\u201d said Chepkemei.<\/p>\n She stated that the KTB\u2019s marketing activation at the Chicago marathon, which is one of the six World Marathon Majors, served as a springboard to sell a more diverse Kenyan experience to the US market and beyond given the global representation of the participants, the larger international community of running enthusiasts.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Chicago Marathon has provided us with a perfect platform to engage and inspire leisure runners to experience the thrill of running alongside our elite athletes through the \u2018Run with Kenyans\u2019 campaign which we are currently spearheading,\u201d Chepkemei added.<\/p>\n The activities held prior to the marathon included consumer interactions at the Abbott Health & Fitness Expo where KTB hosted a booth. Additionally, at least 250 attendees graced The Chicago Marathon Dinner, an event organized by KTB and a host of Kenyans in the Diaspora, to honor elite runners including those from Kenya and Ethiopia who participated in the marathon.<\/p>\n The events were key in creating an association between Kenyan marathoners and Kenya as a diverse tourism destination, with the aim of driving more arrivals especially from the global running community led by the US.<\/p>\n \u201cThe US is our lead source market, outside of Africa, having contributed 265,310 arrivals or about 14% of our total arrivals in 2023. However, most of these visits were for leisure or holiday purposes, so we are keen to diversify and invite them to further explore the breadth of our offerings.<\/p>\n \u201cBy tapping into the vast community of leisure runners in the US and beyond, we aim to drive signups to our locally hosted marathons so that they can take advantage of the world \u2018Running with Kenyans\u2019 alongside our champions and eventually become brand ambassadors of our country,\u201d explained Chepkemei.<\/p>\n Kenya\u2019s Ambassador to the US, Amb. David Kerich, echoed Chepkemei\u2019s sentiments, highlighting the importance of collaboration between the diaspora and the embassy in promoting Kenya as a top tourist destination.<\/p>\n \u201cI appreciate KTB as a key partner in creating synergies that will help grow Kenya\u2019s tourism pie. Sports tourism presents a significant opportunity, and we thank our athletes for the role they play in showcasing our country\u2019s prowess on the global stage,\u201d said Amb. Kerich.<\/p>\n He challenged the Kenyan diaspora to embrace the \u2018Ziara Kenya One Diaspora One Tourist\u2019 campaign, which seeks to harness the over 3 million Kenyans in the diaspora to help market their motherland through their networks within their host countries.<\/p>\n The \u2018Run with Kenyans\u2019 campaign is a strategic initiative that aims to leverage Kenya\u2019s athletics dominance to attract international leisure runners and lovers of adventure including mountain climbing to participate in locally hosted marathons like the annual Standard Chartered Nairobi Marathon and experience the thrill of running alongside elite Kenyan athletes.<\/p>\n Recently, KTB partnered with the Standard Chartered Marathon in a strategic deal spanning the next 3 years beginning from this year\u2019s race on October 27th, 2024, as part of a larger campaign to re-position Kenya as the home of marathon running.<\/p>\n The post Athletics: KTB targets diaspora leisure running community to drive tourism<\/a> first appeared on KBC<\/a>.<\/p>\n The post Athletics: KTB targets diaspora leisure running community to drive tourism<\/a> appeared first on KBC<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" \u00a0 The Kenya Tourism Board (KTB) is seeking to harness the growing leisure running community in the vast US market that is currently estimated at 50 million runners, to drive tourism to Kenya by promoting it as an ideal destination for running vacations and races. The strategic move is part of KTB\u2019s efforts to tap […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-99426","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","entry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99426","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=99426"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99426\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=99426"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=99426"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=99426"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}