Visitors from Milan and Rome have overtaken travelers from Kisumu and Nairobi’s Wilson Airport to Mombasa via Moi International Airport (MIA), underscoring the growing importance of Italy to Kenya’s tourism.
Arrivals from Milan’s Malpensa Airport more than doubled to 28,664 in 2025 from 12,317 a year earlier, while those from Rome’s Fiumicino Airport jumped more than fourfold to 5,811 from 1,355, according to new data from the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS).
Together, the two Italian gateways supplied 34,475 arriving passengers to Mombasa, surpassing Kisumu, which recorded 23,052 arrivals, and Wilson Airport, which handled 16,878.
The growth comes as Italy strengthens its position among Kenya’s international tourism source markets.
In 2024, for instance, Italy was among the markets that recorded notable increases in visitor arrivals to Kenya when the country received 2.39 million international tourists, up 14.6 percent from 2023, according to the Tourism Research Institute.
Milan is Italy’s principal commercial and financial hub, while Malpensa serves as a major international gateway for northern Italy. Rome’s Fiumicino, the country’s largest international passenger gateway, extends Mombasa’s reach into another major Italian market.
The two cities are connected to Mombasa by Italian leisure carrier Neos Air, which operated two weekly flights between Malpensa and Mombasa and one weekly service between Fiumicino and Mombasa in 2025.
The services provide European holidaymakers with direct access to Kenya’s coast without requiring them to connect through Nairobi.
They also create opportunities for tour operators to combine beach holidays with wildlife safaris, potentially spreading visitor spending across hotels, restaurants, transport providers and inland tourism destinations.
Beyond Italy, arrivals from Frankfurt, Germany, increased 11 percent to 55,589 in 2025, while arrivals in Mombasa from other European airports rose 55 percent to 24,916 from 16,048, pointing to broader growth in traffic from the region.
Frankfurt is connected to Mombasa by leisure carriers Condor and Discover Airlines, which operate direct services catering largely to holidaymakers travelling to the Kenyan coast. The airport is also an important international hub, giving Mombasa access to passengers connecting from other European markets.
Europe contributes about 30 percent of international tourist arrivals to Kenya, with Italy, Germany, France, Spain and the United Kingdom among the leading source markets, according to the Kenya Tourism Board.
The expansion of direct international services to Mombasa also comes as Kenya ramps up efforts to improve connectivity beyond Nairobi under its open-skies policy.
Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) remained the largest source of arriving passengers at Mombasa in 2025, contributing 441,232, down seven percent from 473,769 in 2024.
Arrivals from Kisumu also declined to 23,052 from 23,562, while those from Wilson increased to 16,878 from 14,010. The stronger growth from Milan and Rome consequently pushed both Italian gateways ahead of the two domestic airports.
Moi International Airport is Kenya’s second-busiest airport by passenger numbers and is expected to benefit from efforts to expand direct international connections to secondary cities.
Ethiopian Airlines has already introduced direct flights between Addis Ababa and Mombasa, opening the coastal city to passengers connecting through its international network.
The new connections could help diversify Mombasa’s passenger base beyond domestic feeder traffic and established European leisure routes. Their longer-term contribution to tourism, however, may depend on whether airlines can sustain demand and whether the increase in passenger arrivals translates into more visitors staying at coastal hotels and spending in the local economy.