By Wendell Roelf CAPE TOWN (Reuters) - Kenya's economic growth should rebound to 7 percent in 2009, driven by tourism as the country rebuilds after political turmoil earlier this year, Prime Minister Raila Odinga said on Thursday. Violence after a disputed December 2007 election has hit tourism revenues, a key foreign exchange earner for the east African country, and income form the sector fell 54 percent in the first quarter of 2008 from a year earlier. "Next year I think we'll be able to get (growth) back to 7 percent (from 4.5 percent in 2008)," Odinga told reporters at the World Economic Forum for Africa in Cape Town. "Though we have had a few setbacks this year, we are projecting that the economy will be growing beyond 10 percent over the next four to five years, (and) we hope to attain 12 percent growth by the year 2012," he said. Foreign tourists stayed away from Kenya's famed wildlife parks and coastal resorts when post-election violence erupted between supporters of President Mwai Kibaki's party and of opposition leader Odinga. At least 1,200 people were killed and more than 300,000 Kenyans were left homeless in the ethnically-driven violence. Odinga was appointed prime minister as part of a power-sharing deal signed with Kibaki in April. On Thursday, Odinga said tourism would form a major part of the country's economic reconstruction, with the newly formed coalition government expected to double infrastructure spending to $20 billion by 2012. VISION 2030 Odinga said the Kenyan government would launch its "Vision 2030" reconstruction blueprint next week, outlining plans for road and railway concessions, as well as efforts to convert the Port of Mombasa into a free port similar to Dubai. "The Vision 2030 is aimed at transforming Kenya from a struggling third world economy to a second world economy," Odinga said. Tourism Minister Najib Balala, part of a senior political and business delegation wooing WEF participants, said Kenya was eager to capitalise on its untapped tourism potential. He said Kenya was using only five out of 64 national parks for tourism, and was considering building "huge chains of hotels" along the coast and developing exclusive eco-tourism lodges for rich visitors. Balala said tourist arrivals were projected at 1.8 million in 2008, and Kenya hoped to double this in the next five years. Tourist arrivals fell 45 percent to 274,419 in the first three months of 2008, from 501,863 in the same period last year, while occupancy rates dropped to an average 30 percent compared to 86 percent in the same period last year. | 
