Balala: Lack of innovation will roll back gains in tourism sector

Kenya Tourism Board acting managing director Jacinta Nzioka (left) looks on as Tourism Cabinet Secretary Najib Balala presents a rose flower to some of the tourists from Warsaw city in Poland as they disembarked from their Airbus A321 charter flight at the Mombasa International Airport, July 15, 2016. [PHOTO:GIDEON MAUNDU/STANDARD].

The government is turning the heat on the tourism industry for failure to hit targets set back in 2013 when it was projected tourist arrivals and earnings would double.

Tourism was then starting on a recovery path after setbacks occasioned by a rise in insecurity that resulted in travel advisories by key tourist source markets and a general wane in confidence among travellers.

The government in partnership with the sector came up with ambitious targets that included increasing international visitor numbers from 1.8 million in 2011 to three million in 2017.

The plan would also double the earnings from Sh95 billion in 2011 to Sh200 billion.

However, the industry is yet to achieve this despite the growth experienced last year - which defied the sector’s previous performance during an election year. It received 1.4 million tourists and earned Sh120 billion in 2017, according to the Kenya Tourism Board.

Tourism and Wildlife Cabinet Secretary Najib Balala said the failure to achieve the 2013 targets was due to lack of innovation among private sector players. He said the government had played its part by giving concessions and incentives to the industry, but the sector was operating like it did decades ago.

Nothing changed

“Our focus was to have three million arrivals and revenues of Sh200 million but we have not achieved this. Granted, a key challenge was insecurity but this was addressed and it is the reason the sector has been resilient and posted growth last year. Nothing else has changed,” he said. “In other industries, the private sector moves ahead of government in terms of innovation and adopting technology but in our case, I feel the government has been ahead of private sector.”

While Kenya’s traditional attractions of safari and beach have been termed world beaters, Mr Balala said one cannot watch a lion or walk the beach for 24 straight hours as there is need to break.

However, most hoteliers, including those located in wildlife sanctuaries, do not have anything above the basic bed and meals. Adding unique activities to their offerings could attract visitors and even make them stay longer, which would mean more revenues for the facilities.

“Product is not a lodge or a room. For instance, Masai Mara, though great and globally-recognised, can be boring. The animals are a great attraction but after you have been watching them the whole day, there is nothing exciting at the lodges in the evenings when you are not on a game drive,” said Balala.

“There is no Internet in the car, none in the lodges…If a matatu has Internet, why can’t you have Internet in your tour vans or lodges in the national parks?” he posed.

“We cannot move with the same pace that we used to 20 years ago. The customer has changed.”

Offering incentives

At an industry forum in Nairobi that momentarily turned into a session to lash out at the industry, Balala said the government was offering numerous incentives to the industry but players have not been taking advantage of them.

The government has over the last five years introduced incentives to give the sector a lifeline after continuous decline following a peak experienced in 2011.

Among the incentives are exempting locally-assembled tour vans from paying value added tax as well as opening up of Kenya to Africans, who can now apply for visas at the ports of entry rather than before leaving their countries.

The government has also reduced visa fees for all visitors and exempted tourists from paying VAT when going to national parks and reserves.

“The government has made too many concessions to the private sector but it has not been doing much with them,” said Balala.