Balala assures tourism investors of security

By Macharia Kamau

Tourism Minister Najib Balala on Wednesday moved to calm investors, reassuring them that the Government is doing all it can to beef up security and protect tourists in the Coastal strip.

Balala said he and representatives from other ministries, including Internal Security and Foreign Affairs had met with diplomats from France, the United Kingdom and the US to update them on measures being undertaken following the kidnapping of two tourists by Somali militia.

The minister said he had also spoken to hoteliers in Lamu and advised them not to close their businesses out of fear as this would severely dent the economy of the region and take them long to recover. The ministry of tourism is embarking the implementation of the recently enacted tourism act.

Balala spoke on Wednesday during the annual general meeting of the Kenya Association of Tour Operators.

He said he would by end of this year have constituted a team to oversee the implementation of the Tourism Act that was signed into law two weeks ago by President Kibaki.

"We are going to put up a committee that will oversee the implementation of the Tourism Act," he said.

The committee will, among other things, come up with a set of regulations that will stipulate how recruitment and appointments in government agencies that fall under the ministry will be undertaken.

Mara management plan

The law will see the creation of a regulatory authority, a tourism research institute and the renaming of the tourism marketing body to Kenya Tourism Board.

It will also strengthen Kenya Tourism Development Corporation, which is a financial body that advances credit to industry players.

The law will also see the phasing out of tourist vans and in their place the industry adopt four-wheel drive vehicles.

Balala also said his ministry is embarking on a plan to reduce degradation in the Masai Mara and the Amboseli National Park.

"We are pushing for the implementation of the Mara Management plan... I have talked extensively with the two county councils who have jurisdiction over Mara to sign the plan and move on to the implementation," he said.

He said the ministry would gazette regulations to enable implementation of the Masai Mara Management plan. The ten-year blueprint provides a road map for the sustainable future.

The Mara is a significant attraction in the country and draws a lot of tourists. It has in the same measure attracted a lot of investors; some of them developing lodges and campsites that do not meet basic environmental standards while others are illegal.

Balala said he would issue a moratorium banning further developments in Amboseli for a period of two years. "Group ranches have been subdividing land in Amboseli and have not been helping tourism... I have consulted the Kenya Wildlife Service and we are still in consultation about the best way forward," said Balala.

"I know that coastal tourism players will be hurt by the move, but we need a solution... the park is truly dying."

Tough warning

The Government said the weekend kidnapping of a French woman was a serious provocation by Somalia’s Islamist Al-Shabaab group, which threatens the country’s multi-million dollar tourism industry.

Internal Security Minister George Saitoti also warned that those behind the kidnapping "and all others who are trying to provoke Kenya have made a big mistake and will live to regret it."

In the second such kidnapping in recent weeks, gunmen stormed the private home of 66-year-old, wheelchair-bound Marie Dedieu on the northern coast island of Manda on Saturday.