The Kenyan travel industry has welcomed the allocation of Sh4.5 billion plus incentives to the ailing sector by the National Treasury in the 2016/2017 national budget .
Speaking in Mombasa, Kenya Association of Hotelkeepers and Caterers (Kahc) Coast branch executive officer, Mr Sam Ikwaye said that they are happy and excited at the prospects of additional funding.
''We have seen the government act. Cabinet Secretary for Tourism ,Najib Balala has done his part and now tourism agencies involved in marketing need to play their part proactively to ensure that tourism rebounds to acceptable levels,'' Ikwaye said.
Ikwaye said tourism players were happy about the gazeting of the reduction on park entry fees which has now put us at a competitive advantage with other East African nations.
'' The scrapping of tax on tips and service charge to hospitality staff is a laudable move as it put a huge dent on hospitality workers whose pay remained low owing to bad business,'' he said.
Ikwaye said that the 2016/17 budget reading met one of the key demands of the industry after Treasury CS , Henry Rotich proposed to remove the Value Added Tax (VAT) on park entrance fees, which three years ago raised the cost to visit national parks by a whopping 16 percent.
Another key demand by industry players sent to government in various submissions was also met when tour operator services were also earmarked to have the 16 percent VAT removed, again reducing the cost of safaris and excursions for foreign visitors.
Ndolo said that he was looking forward to having the Tourism Finance Corporation (TFC) well-funded to enable it fund local investments and help them upgrade their facilities as they seek to remain competitive.
