Stakeholders in the tourism sector in Mombasa County want the national government to make greater efforts towards attracting more foreign tourists as the sector contributes significantly to the economy.
The stakeholders were speaking on Monday at the Kenya School of Government (KSG) during the Medium Term Plan 2018-2022 county forum, officially opened by Principal Secretary of Correctional Services, Zeinab Hussein.
The Third Medium Term Plan 2018-2022 is being disseminated across the 47 counties under the theme, Transforming Lives: Advancing socio-economic development through the Big Four Agenda.
The big four plan include food security and nutrition, universal health coverage, affordable housing and manufacturing which in the long run, will have enormous impact in the standards of living.
They noted that stepping up marketing and branding campaigns to attract tourists should be a key priority in the tourism industry in a bid to bring extra revenue.
According to the medium term plan, tourism earnings have the potential to grow from the current Sh.99.7 billion to 175 billion by 2020 through vigorous and sustained marketing and branding.
The Plan envisage that domestic tourism has the potential to grow from 3.5 million to 6.5 million while international arrivals can jump from 1.3 million to 2.3 million in the next five years.
In a speech by the National Treasury Cabinet Secretary read on his behalf by the PS, Rotich noted that the third medium term plan is well in tandem with the government’s agenda of transforming lives by putting food on the table and money in the pocket of al Kenyans.
The meeting which was also addressed by the Mombasa County Commissioner, Evans Achoki was attended by national and county government officials and representatives from NGOs.
By Mohamed Hassan
