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Kenya expects to see 100 billion shillings ($1.2 billion) in revenue from the tourism sector this year, Kenyan Minister of Tourism Dan Mwazo said Thursday (August 16th).

"Compared to last year when the country earned 98 billion shillings ($1.1 billion) from tourism, we this year expect to earn 100 billion shillings," Mwazo said while touring the Maasai Mara National Reserve, Kenya's The Standard reported.

The increase would be greater if not for several recent terrorism incidents in Kenya, Mwazo said.

Mwazo said he expects the number of tourists coming to Kenya to increase because of the government's aggressive marketing campaigns. "We have successfully marketed Kenya as the best tourist destination in the world, but security issues and a poor road network threaten to reverse the gains," he said.

He added that increased revenue can be gained through expanding marketing efforts beyond Kenya's traditional tourist markets of the United Kingdom, the United States, Germany, France and Asia. "Over reliance on the traditional markets will not increase tourism revenue," he said.