At least 80 prominent travel agents from Italy on Tuesday arrived in Mombasa for a week's tour of the country.

This follows a recent visit to Italy by a delegation led by Tourism minister Najib Balala to woo more Italians to visit Kenya.

The travel agents, together with more than 100 tourists, arrived at Mombasa International Airport aboard a Blue Panorama plane shortly after 11am.

According to Franco Rosso product manager Laurent Parent, the agents are in the country to sample wild safaris in Tsavo National Park and coastal beaches, among other tourist resorts in Malindi and Diani in the South Coast.

Marketing

Soon after landing, the group left for Tsavo East National Park for safaris while on Wednesday they are scheduled to visit Taita Hills.

Their tour was sponsored by leading Italian tour operator Franco Rosso, the Kenya Tourist Board (KTB) and Pollman's Tours and Safari with the aim of marketing Kenya as a destination of choice among Italian holidaymakers.

The tour operators will also seek to reassure jittery Italians that Kenya was now safe after the post-election violence that drove away many tourists.

"Franco Rosso and KTB, among other partners, have brought agents from Italy so that they can witness for themselves the tourist attractions here as well as being exposed to the peaceful atmosphere after the turbulent post-election violence period," said Mr Parent.

"Our aim is to ensure that Italian tourists come in droves in Kenya as it used to be over the years.

"The travel agents will then convince their clients to visit this country for holidays since it is one of the key destinations, especially Malindi Town," he added.

The Franco Rosso official expressed hope that in December their charter flights into Mombasa would increase from one per week to four, with the number of passengers rising from just above 100 per week to 500.

He said the tour firm expects to bring to Kenya about 5,000 tourists between December and April next year following the increase of charter flights.

KTB account director marketing and public relations Federica Volla hoped the Italian travel agents would assist in wooing holidaymakers after the tour.

Following the post-election violence, she said, the number of Italians visiting the country dropped sharply. Between January and August this year only 11,000 came compared to 83,000 last year, she added.

"After the post-election violence we lost 70 per cent of the Italian tourist market. We ferried in the Italian travel agents to see the country so that they can help in mending up things.

"We want the tourists to come back in large numbers." she said.