Kenya hosts East Africa's fifth e-tourism conference

E-tourism Africa Managing Director Damian Cook. Kenya will host the fifth edition of e-tourism East Africa Conference, a convention that seeks to address the impact of digital tools on the tourism sector. FILE PHOTO | MICHAEL MUTE 

In Summary

• ‘Wonders of Watamu’ (WOW) is one of the online conversations that have branded Kenya as a prominent tourist destination.
• 'Make it Kenya' campaign set off the recent ‘Kenya’s Great Migration Stampedes onto the web’ using live streaming tools to show the world the best of Kenya.
• East African companies however, are yet to fully utilize social media platforms in order to reap from the wide spread communication platforms.
• The ongoing event focuses strongly on the use of social media to leverage online bookings.

By WINFRED KURIA
More by this Author

Kenya is hosting the fifth edition of a regional e-tourism conference.

The ongoing event seeks to address the impact of digital tools on the tourism sector.

Twitter, Facebook, Google and YouTube remain the most reliable media channels for many Kenyans when it comes to travelling.

Over 69 per cent of travellers now begin their search online.

MOBILE BOOKINGS

There has been a 50 per cent increase in mobile use across business and leisure travellers, with 30 per cent relying purely on their mobiles to make last minute bookings.

According to Kenya National Bureau of Statistics, the second quarter saw Jomo Kenyatta International Airport arrivals increase by 2.8 per cent while Moi International Airport arrivals contracted 39.1 per cent.

Overall, the sector recorded a 1.9 per cent drop in hotel occupancies.

SOCIAL MEDIA IMPACT

At a time the sector is striving to recover, social media has portrayed the industry differently.

‘Wonders of Watamu’ (WOW) is one of the online conversations that have branded Kenya as a prominent tourist destination.

The initiative by e-tourism frontiers has attracted thousands of participants with 79 per cent of them accessing it on social media, and 50 per cent of this through mobile devices.

The initiative contributed in rebranding Kenya’s tourism sector widely in the second quarter.

Kenyans are also played a big role to boost the industry with 72,000 tweets going live under the hashtag #Safari in Kenya compared to the 6,000 global tweets sharing the same hashtag.

MAKE IT KENYA

Among tools widely used to salvage the tourism sector include web portals.

The Ministry of East African Affairs, Commerce and Tourism introduced ‘Make it Kenya’ brand campaign earlier in September, this year, to promote and enhance Kenya’s position as a global leader in tourism, commerce and investment.

The campaign set off the recent ‘Kenya’s Great Migration Stampedes onto the web’ using live streaming tools to show the world the best of Kenya.

Companies today rely on social media platforms to attract tourists.

According to Facebook, about 50 per cent of the 21 million daily users stumble on travel destinations while logged in to the social media platform.

East African companies however, are yet to fully utilize social media platforms in order to reap from the wide spread communication platforms.

For a better tourism industry, it is critical that tourism players use the internet and social media to market and manage their destinations and businesses.