Kenya hires UK firm to market tourism sector overseas

The Government is committed to ensure that the ailing tourism industry recovers fully, Tourism Cabinet Secretary Phylis Kandie has said.

Speaking in Mombasa yesterday when she officiated  the opening of the 13th edition of the Kenya Association of Hotelkeepers and Caterers (KAHC) Annual Tourism Symposium at the Sarova Whitesands Hotel, Kandie reiterated that the Government was keen to see that recovery efforts put in place bear fruit.

She explained that already, an international PR firm from the UK, Grayling PR, has started work to mitigate effects of adverse publicity that Kenya as a destination had suffered before.

Kandie told the gathering, which included KAHC National Chair Jaideep Vohra, Kenya Tourism Board (KTB) Managing Director Muriithi Ndegwa and county executives in charge of Tourism from Mombasa and Kwale counties Job Tumbo and Adan Sheikh and the Kenya Coast Tourist Association Chair Mohamed Hersi that Destination Kenya was going to have advertisement slots on Cable Television Network (CNN) for a full year.

“We have put pen to paper with CNN and hope the advertisement slots will sell our unmatched tourist attractions to America, Europe, Asia and Africa,” the CS said.

Vohra said for the last three years, Kenyan tourism has undergone through very difficult times.

“The worst part of it all was the imposition of travel advisories by the UK, USA, France and Australian governments in May last year. This brought the industry to a virtual standstill,” Vohra, who is also the Managing Director of Sarova Group of Hotels, said.

The theme of this year’s event is ‘Tourism Recovery: The Way Forward.’

Kandie said the Government through the Cabinet has established an inter-ministerial Cabinet sub-committee to fast track matters on recovery and address cross cutting issues touching on the industry.

She said the sub-committtee has among its membership the Ministry of Tourism, Interior, Foreign Affairs, Transport, Environment and Health ministries.

 LIFT BAN

The CS also commended stakeholders in the tourism industry for being resilient and robust in their resolve that led to UK to announce lifting of a travel advisory it had placed on Kenya over security concerns.

Kandie added that part of government’s measures to help resuscitate the industry is the increased budgetary allocation to Sh5.2 billion, which will solely go towards recovery efforts.

She added that the huge allocation given to the Interior ministry will also serve as a big boost to tourism since there will be adequate funds for security apparatus who will be expected in turn to secure the country,  including main tourism hot spots.

Vohra described the theme of the event, which they mooted long before the UK advisory was lifted, as befitting in that they were confident of full recovery. He asked State to hasten the release of the funds earmarked for tourism recovery and go ahead to fully implement report of the tourism recovery task force; which calls among other things the establishment of a fully fledged Ministry for Tourism.

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