Kenya wants to diversify its tourist markets by adding China, the Middle East and Africa to existing markets in the U.K., U.S. and Germany, but that doesn’t mean it’s abandoning traditional markets, AllAfrica reports.

Tourist arrivals to Kenya fell from 1.7 million in 2012 to 1.4 million in 2013 in the wake of the Westgate mall attack, BusinessWeek reported. Tourism was Kenya’s second-largest source of foreign exchange in 2013, generating $1.1 billion.

Kenya’s Deputy President William Ruto was expected to be guest of honor at the Coast Tourism Conference organised by the renamed Kenya Coast Tourists Association, formerly the Mombasa and Coast Tourists Association. Instead, Ruto’s speech was read Thursday by Tourism Official Ibrahim Mohamed at the Whitesands Hotel Mombasa, AllAfrica reports.

“Let me be clear; this does not mean we are quitting our traditional markets,” Ruto said. “We are in tourism business. We are in the business of gaining markets and not losing them.”

Kenya Coast Tourists Association chairman Mohamed Hersi said politicians are misleading Kenyans by talking negatively about the Chinese tourist market. Kenya needs to capitalize on the 100-million-plus Chinese who have toured the world, he said, AllAfrica reports.

“Those talking ill about China are ignorant to the fact that everyone wants to get a share of the Chinese tourism market,” Hersi said.

Kenyan tourism suffered added blows recently when terrorist attacks there prompted Western countries to issues travel advisories, especially to coastal areas.

“It’s not raging but the fire has not gone out on tourism industry,” Hersi said. “We can and we will re-ignite the industry and it will drive growth and lift households out of poverty because this is a remarkable destination.”