BY BENARD AYIEKO
Tourism is a major source of income, job and wealth creation in Kenya. It is through tourism that a country is able to promote its image and international perception externally as well as influencing complementary domestic policies. That is why policy makers peg economic growth on the performance of tourism sector. For instance, early last year, the World Bank predicted Kenya’s growth rate prospects at 6.5% on condition that tourism recovery picks momentum.
Tourism is important to our economy because it’s the second biggest foreign exchange earner after tea. According to figures from Kenya National Bureau of Statistics, in 2014, tourism raked in Sh87.1 billion which is a 7.3% decrease compared to Sh94 billion recorded in 2013. This decrease was attributed to a fall in the number of international visitor arrivals mainly due to adverse negative travel advisories by key source markets. Tourism remains the third largest contributor to the GDP after agriculture and manufacturing.
In Kenya’s Vision 2030, tourism has been identified as one of the top priority areas for driving a double digit economic growth and development. As important as it is to the economy, the sector remains far underdeveloped relative to other top tourist destinations on the continent such as Egypt, Morocco, Mauritius and South Africa. The government has earmarked tourism as one of the six key growth sectors of the country’s economic pillars. Tourism is a recognized priority, with a significant government spending and effective destination marketing campaigns. In last year’s budget, Treasury CS Henry Rotich allocated Sh5.2 billion for tourism revival. My crystal ball tells me that tourism will metamorphize to play a key role in fostering Kenya’s economic growth this year.
Tourism has been in the doldrums since 2011 when the bite on Eurozone crisis affected our traditional markets. Later, the uncertainties and risks associated with the General Election of 2013 played a role in shrinking the sector further. The sporadic terrorist attacks led to cancellation of chartered flights and closure of holiday resorts leading to massive loss of jobs. Today, the sector has turned on a new page and promises to undergo a major turnaround. The President has acted on calls to have the Ministry of Tourism with a substantive Cabinet Secretary which is proof enough that technocrats will dedicate their time, energy and resources in addressing challenges facing tourism this year. Better still, the appointment of Mr. Najib Balala as the Cabinet Secretary has injected a new lease of life for a sector that was nearly on its deathbed. In 2009 while serving as Minister for Tourism, Mr. Balala was named Africa’s Tourism Minister of the year during the Africa Tourism Investors Summit in Mozambique. He was feted for his remarkable efforts to revive our tourism sector after it was hit hardest by the post-election crisis of 2007-8.
Stakeholders celebrated the comeback of ‘Mr. fix it’ of Kenya’s tourism sector. Except for the change in regime and time, Mr. Balala has taken up his role under the same circumstances – when the tourism sector is slumping, a situation that he understands better.
Some of the key issues that Mr. Balala must fix quickly are the dwindling demand for domestic tourism, perceived insecurity, taxation and travel advisories. Cancellation of travel advisories by France, UK and US governments is a shot in the arm. On offering incentives, the new waiver of landing fees at Mombasa and Malindi Airports for charter airlines is a major boost to the recovering sector. On conference tourism, Kenya is giving South Africa a run for her money. Kenya is now a key player in Africa. The hosting of the Global Entrepreneurship Summit and the World Trade Organization 10th Ministerial Conference attests to this. Next year, Kenya will host Tokyo International Conference on African Development and 14th Conference of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development. Two events that could inject over US$70 million into the Kenyan economy.
Let’s create hashtags that will awaken the giant within our tourism sector. A firm action on tourism bottlenecks will help shore up our once glorious tourism sector. The tourism industry expectations on Mr. Balala to bring back the sector’s fortunes are so high that anything to the contrary will be a huge disappointment to the stakeholders. I bet on tourism in 2016, you?
