The announcement was made by President William Ruto during the arrival of the MS Norwegian Dawn, the largest cruise liner to ever dock at the port, carrying over 3,000 passengers and crew.
The new system is expected to eliminate paperwork delays and allow tourists to freely explore Kenya’s cities and national parks during their stay, further positioning the country as a premier cruise destination.
“We will be changing our Visa and ETA to make it easier and seamless to enter the country so that there is no paperwork or unnecessary delays for visitors. We have agreed with the management of the port to ease the process so that tourists on cruises can visit our cities and parks with a lot more ease. Those on the cruises should be able to access the city for the duration that the cruise ship remains docked at the port” Said President Ruto.
The MS Norwegian Dawn which docked at the port of Mombasa Sunday morning is the largest vessel to ever dock at the port with over 3000 people onboard.
“This morning, 800 tourists have left the Norwegian Dawn to explore different destinations including, the Amboseli National Park and other destinations in the city of Mombasa and its environs. The Norwegian Dawn has docked at the port with 2,200 tourists and over 900 crew. We are working with the county of Mombasa and the Ministry of Tourism to deepen and expand our tourism product beyond beach tourism and safari going into ecotourism and cultural tourism to ensure we attract more people and create more job opportunities.” President Ruto added.
According to Tourism Cabinet Secretary Rebecca Miano Kenya is set to receive 8 cruise ships throughout the cruise ship season.
“Kenya is emerging as one of the favorite cruise ship destinations. Cruise tourism was one of the top-performing sub-sectors. The Norwegian Dawn is the biggest ship we have received in the last 10 years.” CS Miano added.
Kenya received 6,561 cruise tourists last year with the subsector growing by over 163.5%. The rollout of a multiple-entry Electronic Travel Authorization (ETA) coupled with increased investment at the ports is expected to boost cruise tourism by attracting more vessels to the port of Mombasa.
The multiple-entry ETA will enable cruise tourists seeking to explore the city of Mombasa to move freely between cruise ships and the city without requiring authorization each time they leave the ship.
Source: KBC.
