Kenya is seeking to develop a County Tourism Policy in a move that is likely to brand each of the 47 devolved units according to their respective tourism offerings.
This is part of a radical shift in local tourism to cut reliance on traditional western markets and build capacity for domestic tourism.
Tourism stakeholders from both the county and national government are now developing a document that will see counties market their own offerings and also compete with each other, ultimately bringing down the cost of tourism for the average domestic tourist.
“The Constitution provides a new level of operation for tourism in Kenya where each of the new county governments is largely responsible for development issues within their respective areas of jurisdiction,” explains Ms Lucy Karume, the chairperson of the Kenya Tourism Federation (KTF). “We need to forge a solid working relationship whereby we are assured that tourists moving across the counties will expect more or less the same product standards, policy regulation and quality of service,” she said.
Currently, most of Kenya’s 47 administrative units rely on the Government to develop and execute nationwide tourism strategies which often package and market Kenya as a destination to the external markets.
Promotional campaigns
Nairobi is marketed for conference tourism due to its meeting facilities with Mombasa and the Maasai Mara pegged for beach and Safari tourism respectively. If the new policy is adopted, each of the counties will have its own unique offering and will have the ability of running marketing and promotional campaigns without riding on the national government’s tourism ministry.
According to Rose Kisia, Kisumu’s Tourism executive, Kenyan counties have the capacity to develop and execute localised tourism strategies that would promote domestic tourism.
“The fourth schedule of the Constitution bestows upon the national government the function of tourism policy and development and also allocates county Governments the role of local tourism,” she stated. “This makes it imperative for both levels of Government to develop a sound and appropriate policy and legal framework for the sustainable development of the Tourism Sector in Kenya.”
Kisia, however, states that most counties still lack a clear and comprehensive policy to regulate their tourism sectors, a fact that has been made worse by competition from traditional and emerging tourism destinations around the world hence the need for the policy framework.
“Our counties vary considerably in terms of natural and cultural tourism resources and level of social, cultural and economic capital,” she states. “Because of this, the standard tourism policies for the counties should define a broad set of principles that can further be refined in the context of each particular county.”
Necessary travel
The tourism industry has been adversely hit after the US, Britain, France and Australia, its key markets, advised their citizens to avoid all but necessary travel to parts of the country.
Tourism industry players last month warned economy stands to lose up to Sh40 billion and that the industry could remain in doldrums until November next year if urgent policy interventions were not made. The country is looking at domestic tourism to cushion the industry against shocks such as the ones currently being experienced. However, this is proving to be a hard nut to crack for hoteliers and the government.
