Dilemma of Kenya's high tourists
By PHILIP NGUNJIRI
Tourists who come under package arrangement do not spend much in the country despite their large numbers, a recent survey on the sector has revealed.
Its disturbing conclusion — Kenya is a ‘cheap destination.’ The survey conducted at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) in Nairobi and Mombasa’s Moi International Airport, targeted tourists exiting the country.
It showed that Kenya is receiving more package tourists who pay less than independent travellers. For example, visitors to Uganda and Tanzania spend more on food, accommodation, shopping, travel and entertainment among other things.
Under the package deal, tourists pay their travel agents in foreign capital for entire itinerary in Kenya and arrive with vouchers which they use in the country. The travel agencies or tour companies — often local offices of international firms — send the vouchers back and are reimbursed. They same case applies to hotels and lodges which they visit.
According to the survey, which was undertaken September to October 2006, over half or 54.1 per cent of the tourists exiting Kenya were on tour package, compared with 45.3 per cent independent tourists. Those on tour package pay an average of $1,627 for their stay, compared with independent tourists who pay an average of $2,500.
Conducted by the Centre for Independent Research and commissioned by the Tourism Foundation Fund (TTF), the Exit Survey confirmed an earlier study carried out by the World Bank which had indicated that tourists visiting Kenya are spending less than those visiting other East African countries.
Whereas Kenya has the most developed tourist sector in the region and attracts the highest numbers of tourists, visitors on package tours are not only paying less, but are also contributing to the decline in tourism earnings in the medium and long term due to degradation of facilities and parks through over use.
Though package travel arrangements guarantee steady income for the sector, it results in lower returns for the country as the data suggests that it primarily captures the low spending tourists.
Furthermore the potential trickle down effects across economic sectors and services that usually arise from direct expenditure on goods and services are lost. This, according to the TTF chief executive officer Dan Kagagi, provides justification for stimulating the increase in the proportion of independent travellers.
Tourists on package tours tend to come primarily for holiday (90 per cent), while independent travellers while also largely coming for holiday (48.9 per cent) tend to be involved in other activities too, among them business (36.1 per cent), visiting friends and relatives (5.3 per cent), research or study (2.9 per cent), religious activities (2.3 per cent) and meetings/conferences (1.6 per cent).
The survey also shows that the Internet (accounting for 38.3 per cent of the visitors) is the most frequently used source of information about Kenya. It is therefore evident that online tourism and personal recommendations are overtaking the traditional information sources that attract highest advertisement revenue such as TV, brochures, radio and newspapers. Other sources of information on Kenya are friends and relatives (accounting for 26.5 per cent of the visitors), travel agents (22.7 per cent), travel brochures (19.9 per cent), television (11.9 per cent), magazines (7.2 per cent), newspapers (4 per cent) and radio (3 per cent).
“This suggests the need to re-focus tourism promotional strategies in the direction of the Internet and maximisation of personal satisfaction for individual tourists,” said Dr Kigagi.
Whereas tourists increasingly use the Internet to access destination information, they still primarily use tour agents for travel arrangements. The study established that about 60 per cent of the visitors coming to Kenya during the surveyed period made their travel arrangements through travel agents, 20.9 per cent used the Internet, while another 7.6 per cent dealt directly with airlines. Seven per cent outbound tourists reported using tour operators and only 3.4 per cent reported using their institutions (colleges or companies) to make bookings.
The survey — the first in-depth research on Kenya’s international tourism market — is meant to help the Kenya Tourism Board develop strategies as it will now have a better understanding of the international market and its perceptions and experiences of Kenya as a holiday destination.
According to Dr Kigagi, gathering accurate information and views from the international market has been a challenging task. The findings of the survey are expected to help KTB base its future marketing decisions on reliable information. “We want to ensure that KTB’s future marketing efforts yield better results,” he said.
Kenya is rated highly by most tourists who visited, with 96 per cent of the travellers interviewed saying their expectations were met in respect to the quality of services offered compared with 4 per cent who indicated otherwise. Some of the reasons the tourists gave as satisfying are enjoying the whole holiday experience, hospitality of the Kenyan people, attractive and appealing sceneries, uncrowded and unspoiled parks, game tours, prompt services by staff, adequate safety, good and appealing physical facilities (3.7 per cent) and beautiful beaches.
The tourists also recommended the improvement of the country’s road infrastructure, cleaning up of towns, improved income and living standards of the local people, curbing of endemic corruption in Kenya, harmonisation of currency used at the airports, improved traffic flow, provision of rest rooms and sanitary facilities, tourism advertisements and efficient airport services.
Tourists who visited Kenya in the period surveyed were moderate to high personal income earners. More than half of the tourists interviewed reported incomes of $41,000 a year or more. The findings further revealed that 27 per cent of the tourists coming to Kenya earn incomes of between $20,000 and $ 40,000 annually.
About 18 per cent of the tourists stated that they earn less than $20,000 annually. These findings could suggest that Kenya is a relatively cheap tourist destination, which is considered affordable by up to 45 per cent of those in the annual income bracket of $40,000.
