Tourists on arrival at the Moi International Airport in Mombasa on February 17, 2026.
Visitor arrivals through the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA), Moi International Airport, and other border points rose by 11 per cent in the first quarter of 2026, on increased connectivity in the Gulf region, signalling continued momentum in Kenya's tourism and travel sector.
Data from the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) shows that international visitor arrivals, excluding Kenyans, increased to 653,919 between January and March this year, up from 589,285 recorded in the corresponding period last year.
The rise in visitor numbers adds to signs of resilience in the tourism sector, which has been buoyed by improved air connectivity, increased flight frequencies, and efforts to position Kenya as a regional business and transport hub.
The growth was supported by increased arrivals from the Middle East, including Doha and Bahrain.
This points to stronger travel links between Kenya and countries in the Middle East, which are increasingly contributing to passenger traffic through Nairobi.
The number of passengers who arrived at JKIA from Doha rose from nil to 46,220 in the period under review, while 3,547 entered the gateway from Bahrain, compared to nil previously.
The rise in arrivals also coincided with an increase in flight frequencies by several international airlines into the country, allowing for more travelers into Kenya.
Tourists at Fort Jesus Monument in Old town, Mombasa on April 1, 2025.
In the period under review, several airlines added new routes, including Kenya Airways and Etihad, while Air France expanded its passenger capacity with a larger aircraft from Paris to Nairobi.
Emirates launched a third daily flight from Dubai to JKIA in Nairobi on March 1, 2026, which has seen a rise in arrivals from the Middle Eastern region.
Flydubai also deepened its East African footprint by expanding operations to include scheduled Nairobi flights alongside its upgraded daily service to Mombasa.
Additionally, the national carrier, Kenya Airways, expanded its global network with a new Nairobi-Beijing Daxing connection in early 2026, which boosted visitor arrival numbers through the main airport.
For the Bahrain route, the service is operated by Gulf Air, which relaunched the route with five weekly flights on June 2, 2025. Before this 2025 resumption, the route was last directly served by the airline in 2012.
The United States has been one of Kenya's biggest overseas source markets, with neighbouring Uganda and Tanzania also accounting for a significant share of arrivals.
This underscores the importance of both regional and long-haul travel to the sector.
However, in the first three months of the year, visitors from some sampled Northern American cities, such as New York, fell to 9,441 arrivals from 14,083 recorded in a similar period last year.
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