The Kenyan government is planning to increase taxes on local and international air tickets in order to raise more money, which it will then allocate to two additional state organs in an attempt to increase their funding.

The National Assembly’s majority leader, Kimani Ichung’wah, who is the official leader of government business in the House, has submitted a bill which, if passed, will increase the levies on air tickets.

The Air Passenger Service Charge (Amendment) Bill 2025 seeks to raise the tax on international tickets from $40 to $50, and the tax on local tickets from Sh500 ($3.87) to Sh600 ($4.65).

These represent increases of 25 percent and 20 percent respectively. The government has stated that it needs to raise more funding to allocate to two agencies that are considered key in facilitating tourism-related projects in the country.

The amendment proposes adding the Tourism Fund and the Kenya Meteorological Service Authority to the existing recipients: the Kenya Airports Authority (KAA) and the Kenya Civil Aviation Authority (KCAA).

The Tourism Fund is set to merge with the Tourism Promotion Fund, which has traditionally received 20 percent of the money collected from air passenger charges. The reallocation of the funds to the Tourism Fund aligns with this merger.“This would limit duplication of roles, improve efficiency, and enable the government to support the financing of tourism-related projects from a single source, especially those that require strategic and sometimes blended funding approaches. This would ensure efficiency in public resource utilisation,” the Bill states.“Further, it seeks to allocate proceeds to the Kenyan Meteorological Service Authority to enable it finance its key responsibilities and functions and thereby deliver on its statutory mandate efficiently and effectively.”The Kenya Meteorological Service Authority is funded by the government, and it is unclear whether the new allocation from the Air Passenger Charge will finance new activities and projects, or replace government funding.

The Tourism Promotion Fund, on the other hand, was added to the list of beneficiaries in 2018 on the basis that most air passengers entering the country were travelling for tourism purposes.

Air passenger service charges have remained unchanged for 13 years. They were doubled to $20 for international flights and to Ksh300 ($2.32) for domestic flights.

Kenya's move comes just days after neighbouring Tanzania announced a new $45 tax on one-way international air tickets, which will increase the cost of travelling into and out of the country.

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