The US State Department announced on Wednesday that it is scrapping its travel warnings for specific countries, instead launching a four-level “travel advisory programme.”
Kenya is placed in the second tier under the new system. When visiting countries in that grouping, US citizens are urged to “exercise increased caution.”
Officials in the Kenyan government and the country’s tourism industry are likely to welcome the changes initiated by the Trump administration. The US has in the past warned against travel to Kenya, prompting complaints that such notifications were unjustified and damaging to the nation’s economy.
The US has been ranked as the top source of tourists to Kenya. The Kenya Tourism Board reported in December 2016 that more than 82,000 Americans visited between January and October of that year, compared with close to 81,000 arrivals from Britain.
