Kenya: Tourism Charts a New Course
The Nation
Joseph Bonyo
14 March 2011
Nairobi
The tourism industry is planning a major shift in how it operates aimed at overtaking its rivals in the region.
This will involve adopting new ways of marketing and improving facilities and patting more private sector participation.
Due to poor funding from Treasury, the industry is now heavily banking on the Tourism Bill in Parliament for motivation.
Niche marketing is picking up well but flagship products in the industry continue to witness a decline. In 2010 beach tourism dropped by about 16 per cent, while new frontiers like conference and business tourism are growing.
However, this is not the only approach to put the industry at par with competitors such as Tunisia and Egypt recent political upheavals not withstanding.
A new dimension needs to be taken and this will see less government participation. "The private sector must now play its part by improving the facilities they have and the government will boost its participation too," says Mr Najib Balala, Tourism minister.
Key in this shift will be a requirement for the players to improve their facilities and product offers. This is aimed at maximising tourist spend within hotels as it will eliminate the bed and breakfast model that most hotels offer.
The all-inclusive package ensures that a visitor spending is catered for by the booking hotel and includes items like airfare, accommodation, all meals, drinks and activities such as game drives or tours around the country.
"The concept of half board has cheapened the products and it now time we did away with it in our hotels. The hotels must adopt the all-inclusive package module going forward," says the minister.
Over the years, the government has played a central role in marketing destination Kenya for and on behalf of industry players.
Through the Kenya Tourist Board, the agency has spearheaded marketing the country at exhibitions across the country and recently through international media platforms.
While this has paid off, it is becoming clear that the board is fast changing its approach and soon private players will be championing the role.
Among the areas that the government has been instrumental in playing the part of private investors have been the exhibitions.
"It is time that we stopped giving the private sector so much subsidies at the international exhibitions.
"We are considering having them contribute the bulk of the money meant for these events since they are the major beneficiaries. I know they will not be happy with this but it has to be done," said Mr Balala.
A cost-sharing ratio of 75 per cent private sector contribution and 25 per cent government has been mooted. KTB is expected to meet in the course of the year to approve the idea.
Among exhibitions that Kenya participates in include the China International Travel Market (CITM), World Travel Market (WTM), International Tourism Bourse (ITB) and Moscow International Tourism & Travel Show (MITT).
The new approach by the ministry is viewed as attempts to ensure that the sector meets its 2012 mid term review targets as stipulated in the economic blue print Vision 2030.
The paper proposes a repositioning of the Coast circuit, opening under utilised parks and providing niche products.
It aims at making Kenya one of the top 10 long haul tourist destinations offering diverse and high-end experiences by 2012 to target five million tourists.
On the basis of the vision whose mid term review comes up next year, the country is expected to be receiving two million tourists annually. This still remains a dream since in 2010 it only managed 1.1 million visitors from across the globe.
This is further complicated by the over reliance on traditional source markets that have continued to register declining numbers of tourists. New markets such as India, China and Russia are reporting good figures.
"We still need to invest more money in marketing in the new destinations, players in the industry need to stop their obsession with the traditional markets and look at the new ones," says Mr Balala
Article at: http://allafrica.com/stories/201103150139.html
