World marathon champion Eliud Kipchoge has been named Kenya’s tourism ambassador.
Kenya Tourism Board (KTB) CEO Dr Betty Radier on Thursday said Kipchoge will fly Kenya’s flag as the new magical Kenya destination ambassador.
Kipchoge will now market Kenya as a top tourist destination regionally and internationally through various campaigns.
“Kenya is well known as the home of champions hence sports form part of our strategy to popularize the country’s tourism offerings,” Radier said in a statement.
“Kenya is well known as the home of champions hence sports form part of our strategy to popularise the country’s tourism offering. As a board, we have invested in locally hosted sporting events like the Magical Kenya Open, the World Rally Championship and World Athletics Championships, among others through sponsorship. Now we turn our attention to events held on the global stage that Kenyans excel in and there is no better collaboration than with Kenya’s marathoners,” said Dr Radier.
In his acceptance speech, Kipchoge said he feels honoured to hold the position and will do his best to market Kenya.
“Being Kenyan is a very beautiful thing. I am passionate and love my country dearly, and it is an honour to be working with KTB on projects geared towards propelling Kenya as a preferred tourist destination globally. Kenya has a lot to offer,” Kipchoge said.
In October last year, Kipchoge broke the record and emerged the greatest marathoner of all time in the INEOS challenges held in Vienna, Austria.
Kipchoge ran a sub-two-hour marathon in record time 1:59:4o. Besides this title, he still holds the world’s marathon champion with a record of 2:01:39. In his stellar career, he has won 12 out of 13 marathons.
Tourism CS Najib Balala has for the last couple of months been working tirelessly to ensure to put mechanisms in place for the resumption of the tourism industry.
Nothing much has been going on in the 60 parks within the country and thousands of hotels since a lockdown was imposed in March due to coronavirus pandemic.
The ministry has also launched a Ksh10 billion State-backed credit scheme for hotels in a bid to help them resume operations.
