The Kenya ministry of East African Affairs, Commerce and Tourism has appointed Grayling PR and events consulting company, a subsidiary of Huntsworth PLC, to promote the country’s tourism sector amidst recent cases of insecurity and corruption.

Huntsworth PLC is listed on the London Stock Exchange.

Kenya is hoping to ride on Grayling worldwide networks of offices across the US, Europe, Middle East, Africa and Asia Pacific.
Europe is the leading source of Kenya’s international tourists but advisories and poor marketing strategies have affected these traditional markets with tourist numbers falling drastically.

READ: US defends Kenya travel advisories but regrets impact

News of the firm’s appointment comes a week after a deadly terror attack in Garissa, north-eastern Kenya, where 148 lives were lost. It also comes in the wake of travel advisories issued by Britain and the United States citing high risk of terrorism, including kidnapping.

“The main threat comes from extremists linked to Al Shabaab, a militant group that has carried out attacks in Kenya in response to Kenya’s military intervention in Somalia,” reads part of the UK foreign office warning.

Grayling now has the task of overturning the effects of these events and show that Kenya is worth visiting and enjoying and maybe sell the US President’s visit to Kenya positively.

Pesident Barack Obama will visit Kenya in July to attend the Global Entrepreneurship Summit (GES) which will take place in Nairobi.

READ: US President Obama to visit Kenya in July

“The biggest task is to repair the damaged image of the country and start projecting the country as a big investment attraction hub,” said Phyllis kandie, the Ministry’s cabinet Secretary.

Other players in the sector said the international firm’s mandate would be seeking to engage foreign governments in activities that promote Kenya as a preferred destination.

“We need somebody in those markets, a local Public Relations company will never get hold of dignitaries from outside including the Presidents and Prime Ministers,” said Mike Macharia, Kenya Association of Hotel Keepers chief executive.

According to Agatha Juma, the chief executive of the Kenya Tourism Federation, Kenya has failed to diversify in its promotion bid for the tourism sector and the new PR Firm could be a good avenue to market the hidden treasures.

“Each county in Kenya is unique in its own way and devolution government has given a mandate to each of the 47 counties to promote tourism,” said Ms Juma.

Kenya promotes beach and safari tourism for which it competes with neighbouring Tanzania.

For Grayling, Kenya is among its target markets in Africa. Others markets include Nigeria, Angola, Mozambique, Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda and Ghana.

A source privy to the Ministry’s discussions said the ministry has failed to aggressively market Kenya and that a different strategy might work with an international PR firm in place.

“The Ministry of EAC is not loud enough to put Kenya on the front line, we rarely get to see achievable plans. The ministry rarely consults other stakeholders and if a taskforce is formed it does not have powers to make decisions on its own. We should learn from South Africa that any resource is an attraction and is worth marketing,” said the source.

The ministry has formed a tourism task force and a tourism regulatory authority as part of the recommendations by stake holders to revive the sector. It remains to be seen what role the two will play.

Recent figures by the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics indicate that international tourist arrivals to Kenya through Jomo Kenyatta and Moi International Airports fell 47 per cent in January 2015 to 50,953 in January 2014.