Tourists enjoy a boat ride in Lake Victoria. FILE photo | nmg
Kenya’s beauty is not matched by its position in the World of
Tourism. It should be one of the top world tourist destinations.
Instead, Kenya is losing ground to many of its peers. Over the last 15
years, the tourism appears to have registered a marginal growth in its
comfort zone while other countries have been taking off.
In
2017, Kenya attracted some 1.5 million tourists. Thailand and Egypt are
attracting 36 million and six million visitors respectively. Despite
floods and political upheavals, these numbers have been growing
steadily.
Even Singapore, a city with no mountains or
animals (outside of Singapore zoo), attracts more than 17 million
visitors each year.
Munich attracts almost seven
million visitors during the two-week beer festival. If Munich can
attract millions of tourists with beer and party alone, Kenya should
easily meet this target.
Arrivals are not the only meaningful metric. Some visitors come
for short trips, others stay longer, some spend a large amount of money,
and others stick to a tight budget.
But the raw
numbers still matter because each of Kenya’s 1.5 million visitors go
back home with stories to tell, which are ultimately shaping the “Brand
Kenya “.
Tourism is critical for Kenya’s economy.
Together with tea and horticulture, it earns the lion’s share of the
foreign exchange. Without tourism, Kenya’s current account deficit would
widen further and exceed 15 per cent of GDP.
And when
these visitors exchange their dollars, yen or euros for shillings, the
national currency gets a boost. Tourism is a labour intensive activity,
think of all the jobs created, for parks rangers, to airline crews, and
hotel employees, who directly rely on it.
But Kenya has
much more potential than it current exploits. It has an amazing
portfolio of attractions to offer: beaches and mountains: and something
to offer for each price segment of the market, from backpackers to
business travellers.
Airline connections are also good
and getting better. Kenya is also benefiting from the economic good
fortunes of Asia and Africa. A growing middle class in emerging
economies is increasingly travelling around the world and ready to enjoy
Kenya’s many attractions.
What
could Kenya do unleash its full potential in tourism? First, Kenya
needs to offer the right package for Safaris, beaches, mountains, as
well as MICE (meetings, incentives, conventions, exhibitions).
Research
actually shows that backpackers spend a larger share of their money on
the local economy. If they have a good experience, they will tell their
(wealthier) friends and families.
The country needs to
upgrade infrastructure for efficiency. When there is instability,
countries issue travel advisories and this negatively affect the number
of tourists as it has happened before.
Security within
and a long our borders is paramount. Terrorism is a worldwide threat to
security and the more a country adopts proactive measure the better for
this industry.
Theuri Paul, economic analyst.
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