Kenya: An unexploited Tourism Paradise!

It is Funny, at a time like this, just after the post election violence for me to make such a declaration with all the tourists fleeing for the country due to the post election violence. Some might say, ‘I am an over enthusiastic young man who does not know what he is saying' but being resilient, full of energy, passion and a commitment to hard work like the rest of my Kenyan friends, I believe and proudly state that Kenya has not even measured a fifth of its tourism potential. So last year over 1.6 million tourists came to Kenya- that's good and that's mainly from the wildlife and game sector. My predictions for this year: 4 million tourists! Alarming? Yes and that's despite the fact that one Key season (November to March) is almost over and to build the image as a tourist destination usually takes over a year. I believe that with proper planning... , extremely aggressive marketing some loads of hard work and massive investment it is possible. Let us just hope that the airport can handle the influx of tourists especially with the cement delays in its expansion project.

Am sure the next question is how we can achieve such a high rise in tourist arrivals? Well like the legendary Phoenix we can rise from the ashes to fly again. I like the movie the flight of the Phoenix which I recommend as a must watch even a second time shows how you can be ‘entheusiost '(empowered by God to achieve the impossible). Kenya Tourism sector can rise again even though I wonder how many times it has to do it since this is our third time after the U.S embassy bomb blast and the Likoni clashes. I can see a basic road map in which we have to think positively and turn our weaknesses into strengths.

Firstly, never has Kenya drawn such media publicity since independence. In fact, I was so shocked to see that we even overtook Israel and Palestine to take the coveted number one news item. For the wrong reasons, May be but with the signing of the peace deal between Raila and Kibaki Kenyans have again shown the world that we are ‘a cut above the rest' and they will all want to know why. Our job is to invite them. We already missed two opportunities to tell the whole world about Kenya's beauty, its industrious people and vast potential when the current U.N secretary General met the former U.N Secretary General in Kenya making them two holders of the position in one country and when Condoleezza Rice and George bush were in Kenya and Tanzania simultaneously. All the focus was on us and let us not loose this chance to ride on the free publicity that on Kenya to rebuild the tourism industry and other sectors

Secondly, the peace deal gives a renewed investor confidence why? We have no opposition. The coalition government creates the opportunity for Kenya to reconstruct itself to build a model state for other countries to emulate with no or little resistance from self seeking politicians. The kind of investment Kenya has the potential to attract is similar to Europe's Marshall Plan and all this reconstruction investment is to concentrated on one country where no initial infrastructural destruction. What a head start! Especially when we can tap into the synergy Kibaki, Kalonzo and Raila have created through the harmonization of their economic and developmental policies contained in their respective party manifestos. We welcome a double digit growth rate, we welcome a 24 hour working populace, we welcome a focus on infrastructural development and we welcome a new Kenya. What does this mean for the tourism sector?

It means that this is the time to focus on developing other tourism sectors that can raise the tourist arrivals to 4 million. We have one of the best bird habitats in the world with a number of species only to be found in Kenya like the flamingo. This is the time to develop our ornithological paradise reputed to have over 1000 types of bird species. This can attract another 100,000 tourist this year. What about cultural tourism where we have the worlds smallest tribe- the el molo people and 42 others including the world famous Maasai totally unexploited. Why haven't we made the Lamu cultural festival that is held every second week of November a major world tourism cultural event? Lamu in terms of culture can rank equally with the Maasai Mara which attracts annually over 344,000 tourists. Then let us talk about sports tourism where people can go to watch the high altitude training for Kenyans famed athletes. Since we know that the world winner in steeple chase is coming from Kenya, we can attract tourist to come watch the qualifiers were even a world champion is eliminated by a high school student! We can brand it ‘The most competitive qualifier in the world!' and earn royalties from the documentaries that we shall make from it which is another form of tourism-film tourism. Should I go on and mention the other forms of tourism that we can exploit let alone the existing unexploited circuits like the western Kenya circuit and the numerous parks that we know little about like the Ruma park and Bisinadi national reserve? What about developing new product offerings like forest trail and river trails to mention a few? And all that potential is located on less than half of Kenya's land mass. We have not even talked about the potential that lies around Lake Turkana - Kenya's Largest water mass and other areas in the Northern frontier. Truly Kenya's tourism Potential is immense and what we need to do direct the huge amounts of local and foreign investor funds into these areas. The Main question is how?

I believe that the ministry of tourism has done a commendable job through its various departments. More can be done like converting Utalii college into a university so that it can start to embark on research on issues related to tourism and wildlife conservation. An tourism Regulatory body can also be established to regulate the industry especially on hotel ratings and naming so as to increase quality in the sector. The authority can then co-ordinate all activities especially on local investment opportunities and encourage the listing of Tourist companies on the NSE among other functions. The is also a need to harmonize all the acts governing the industry namely The Tourist Industry Licensing Act (TILA), Cap 381, Laws of Kenya, The Hotels and Restaurants Act (HRA), Cap 494,Laws of Kenya and The Wildlife Conservation and Management Act, Cap 376, Laws of Kenya and Amendment Act No. 16 of 1989 (KWS) into one chapter. Finally and most importantly draft a new Tourism policy that can be converted into a Sessional paper since the last one on the industry Sessional paper no 8 on tourism was drafted in 1966. by the creation of a new policy document, industry stakeholders can be invited to share there ideas and views on how to develop the industry thus achieving the 4 million target for this year. Sounds Utopian but with the participation of all stake holders, it is achievable.