Cruise ship with over 1000 tourists arrives in Kenya
Mombasa – January 19, 2017
The first cruise ship at the Port of Mombasa for the year 2017 arrived on Thursday with over 1000 tourists aboard.
The luxury cruise ship MS Nautica docked at berth number no.1 at 7:00 am from Zanzibar with 654 passengers and 396 crew members.
USA citizens dominated the number of these tourists at 282, followed by Canada 117, United Kingdom 115, Australia 34, Germany 22 and Netherlands 20.
The tourists disembarking from the MS Nautica ship .
On 10th December last year the same vessel run by Oceania Cruises brought 991 visitors (591 passengers and 400 crew) after another vessel MS Silver Cloud had come with 438 passengers and crew.
Kenya Ports Authority's Principal Corporate Communications Officer Mr Hajj Masemo, who received the visitors on behalf of the Managing Director Mrs Catherine Mturi-Wairi, said their arrival was a boost to cruise tourism.
"We expect more visitors by sea between this month and March because this season alone we have received almost 2500 visitors," he said.
The officer cited Shimba Hills Game Reserve, Amboseli National Park and Malindi Marine National Park and Mombasa city tours as some of the preferred tourism attraction sites for the holidaymakers. 
Principal Corporate Communications Officer Mr Hajj Masemo briefs the media on cruise tourism.
On December 16, 2016 Tourism Cabinet Secretary Najib Balala launched the development of the cruise terminal at the Port of Mombasa which upon completion is expected to be a game changer in the cruise tourism sector.
"The construction of the terminal will allow for an increased volume of cruise ships to arrive at the port, turning the Port of Mombasa into a main tourist destination in East and Central Africa," said the CS.