Counties to take up marketing role in tourism to boost industry

County governments want to take over marketing of tourism in the country to curb the declining international tourist arrivals.

The chairman of the Council of Governors' tourism committee, Samuel Tunai, said there was a need to “extend beyond working with the national government” and reach out to potential partners in the tourism industry.

“We can’t sit and wait for the Kenya Tourism Board to market for us,” said Mr Tunai.

He was speaking during the opening of a three-day convention of tourism stakeholders from county governments and other partners in Nairobi yesterday.

Tunai, who is also the Narok governor, said globalisation had increased competition since many services offered in Kenya’s tourism sector were found elsewhere.

“We must exploit potential for devolution,” said Tunai.

He added that the 47 counties would organise a week to have all devolved units showcase their products to attract more international tourists.

According to statistics by the World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO), Kenya has been facing steady decline of international tourists since 2010.

In 2010, Kenya received 1.4 million tourists while in 2014 there were 1.2 million. The number dropped to 1.1 million in 2015.

The County Tourism and Wildlife Committee indicated that the wanting performance in the sector was due to dependence on the national government to market tourism destinations in all counties.

Tourism is not a devolved sector but some of the functions such as zoning, law enforcement, planning, and partnerships are devolved to the counties.

According to UNWTO, in 2015 Kenya received 1.1 million international tourists, Morocco 10 million, South Africa 10 million, Tunisia 5.3 million, and Zimbabwe two million. France received 84 million visitors.

“We shall invite the world and make use of all media platforms, including international media channels, to show the world what we have before we make plans of getting out of Kenya to market,” said Tunai.

He said it was a paradox that some countries were performing better than Kenya in tourism when they do not have much to offer.

RICH CULTURE

“France and Morocco have nothing compared to us but they beat us.

“We have a rich culture, wildlife, and other magical places. We have more potential,” said Tunai.

He added that in the past, insecurity contributed to low performance in the sector but that it was not to blame since there were other countries that had greater security challenges but were performing better than Kenya.

“Turkey is doing well despite the almost daily bombings in the country. We can do better, especially now that there are no travel advisories by the United States and Britain,” he said.

UNWTO indicated that Turkey received more than 39.4 million international visitors in 2015.