Ambassador Peter Ogego speaks to the crowd while Salaton ole Ntutu, a Masai guide, looks on. Photo by Trevor Williams.

The Kenyan ambassador to the U.S. and representatives of the Kenya Tourist Board visited Atlanta April 29 to assure press and travel agents that the African nation is at peace and open for U.S. tourists.

The press conference at Zoo Atlanta was part of a public relations campaign to restore Kenya’s image after the country was torn by post-election unrest from December 2007-February 2008.

Ambassador Peter Ogego said that before violence claimed more than 1,000 lives, the country had been a stable democracy and a model for its neighbors.

“Africa has so much bad press; Kenya seemed like the one bright spot to the West,” he said.

Rose Kwena, public relations manager for the Nairobi, Kenya-based tourist board, said that violence took place in isolated areas and that the board had established a crisis communications center six years earlier to handle emergency situations.

She said that the tourist board sent daily updates on travel and tourists’ safety to travel agents worldwide and lobbied presidential rivals Mwai Kibaki and Raila Odinga to reach an agreement.

Nevertheless, Ms. Kwena said that press reports gave Americans and others worldwide a negative image of the country, putting the vital tourist industry in jeopardy.

The tourist board estimates that tourism employs more than 3.7 million people, 10 percent of Kenya’s population, in established companies such as hotels and tour companies and informal industries like selling handcrafted goods.  The sector brings $1 billion into the country, 12.5 percent of the gross domestic product.

Maisa Fernandez, the tourist board’s Minneapolis-based North American public relations manager, said that a record 100,000 U.S. citizens visited Kenya in 2007, surpassing Germany and Italy to become the second-highest source of tourists.  The United Kingdom remains the largest source nation with more than 200,000 visitors.

U.S. tourist numbers dropped 48 percent in January and 46 percent in February 2008 from the previous year, prompting a number of initiatives to repair the country’s image.

The Feb. 8 peace deal between re-elected President Kibaki and former rival Prime Minister Odinga provides a revamped cabinet, including new Minister for Tourism Najib Balala.

Fred Okeyo, the tourist board’s North American marketing manager, said that Mr. Balala is working with the finance ministry to put together a trip for U.S. travel agents to Kenya this fall.

The board hosted 200 members of the international media in April as the first phase of its tourism recovery plan.  The subsequent U.S. press tour that ended in Atlanta also visited Chicago, New Orleans and New York, and Mr. Okeyo said they are to visit the West Coast later this year.

When asked how the tourist board chose cities to give presentations, Ms. Kwena said that they “go where the people have passports” and are more likely to travel internationally.

Air access between the U.S. and Kenya is to increase this year, as a Delta Air Lines Inc. flight from New York to Nairobi postponed from June is to open in December.

Mr. Okeyo said that the board had predicted 20 percent growth in tourism this year, but after full recovery from the crisis they are hoping to match the 2007 numbers.

The tourism board members promoted traditional safaris and lesser-known destinations throughout the conference, including the 18th-century village and World Heritage Site on Lamu Island, beaches on the country’s east coast and golf courses on Mount Kenya.

Four Masai guides, wearing traditional beaded jewelry and clothing, closed the press conference singing a native song.  Salaton ole Ntutu, one of the guides, told GlobalAtlanta that their company, Maji Moto, offers camping and walking safaris in Kenya’s Masai Mara national game park.