Tourism Bill falls short of rewarding all players in the sector

Sudi Wandabusi

The overwhelming reactions I got from last week’s article on the Tourism Bill reminded me of what is at stake in this proposed law. Let us take a general look at the Bill.

The Bill does well in establishing a number of bodies charged with the promotion of tourism in the country. Of note are the tourism regulatory, development and marketing bodies under part three of the Bill.

These bodies, which include the Tourism Regulatory Authority, the Kenya Utalii College, the Tourism Protection Service, the Kenya Tourism Board and the Kenya International Conference Centre, shall play a key role in the overall promotion of tourism. Their duties range from policy formulation, promotion of sustainable tourism, formation and regulation of curriculum for education in tourism, establishment of tourism training centres, security of tourists within the country as well as guaranteeing all other important aspects of tourism.

These are crucial functions that will drive tourism in the country. Of concern, however, is the composition of these bodies. All of them have almost similar composition with heavy representation from Government and only providing in all cases, two people representing the umbrella national tourism sector association and either four or five others with some special knowledge or experience in various aspects of tourism. These rather vague provisions are a source of concern to private sector players and the members of communities in which tourist attractions are located. There is no specific mention of the inclusion of these two important stakeholders and their important roles.

Public participation

The Bill would have done better by clearly providing for the government-private sector partnership that has proved to work so well in other sectors. Recognition of the important role to be played by the local communities in the promotion, regulation and support of tourism would capture the spirit of our new Constitution of public participation in different aspects of development and governance.

It is also interesting that all these bodies have their headquarters in Nairobi, with no mention of their representation in the other counties. In the new dispensation of decentralised government, this is bound to be a real concern given that very few tourism points lie within Nairobi County and yet those parts with the biggest attraction sites are nowhere mentioned.

Especially of concern is the Kenya Tourism Board, the institution charged with inter alia, developing, implementing and co-coordinating a national tourism marketing strategy; marketing Kenya at local, national, regional and international levels as a premier tourist destination; and identifying market needs and advising tourism stakeholders on the tourism market trends.

The centralisation of such a critical body may hinder its proper performance and the drafters should consider revising it to provide for Regional Tourism Boards to form part of the Kenya Tourism Board.

Sustainable development

The Bill also fails to appreciate the important link between tourism and ecological sustainable development, only mentioning in passing the promotion of sustainable tourism as one of the functions of the Tourism Regulatory Authority and also under yet another centralised and poorly represented Tourism Research Institute.

There can be no sustainable tourism, as envisaged by the United Nation World Tourism Organisation without the involvement of the local community members! The Bill completely alienates communities from mainstream industry and makes no mention of any institutional framework and affirmative action mechanisms for their integration.

These communities are key stakeholders as the owners, custodians and exporters of the tourism products and form a vital constituency at the bottom of the tourism pyramid, bearing most of the tourism costs. Yet the Bill completely overlooks them and makes no provisions to ensure they accrue commensurate benefits from the industry and alienates them from important decision-making bodies.

Finally, the Bill completely fails to make provisions for Small and Medium Enterprises, community tourism entrepreneurs and the informal sectors for accessing financial and advisory services.

Now these are some of the key components without which the wheels of the tourism sector cannot run. Making specific provisions for their support financially and in education would encourage more community participation and create a sense of ownership of the industry.

Otherwise the Bill will appear to be favouring only the big investors to the exclusion of small entrepreneurs and poor community members. It does nothing to correct the inequalities that have been there in the past, the social injustices against local communities that has sometimes sparked violent clashes with those they perceive as exploitative ‘foreigners’.

—Email: [email protected]