The Ministry of Tourism and Wildlife has rolled out plans to open up the western tourism circuit.
State Department for Tourism Principal Secretary (PS), John Ololtuaa, said the initiative, which is being implemented by all the relevant government departments and agencies, targets to develop the region’s vast attraction sites to woo tourists.
Through collaboration with the county governments, he said all the tourist attraction sites in the region have been mapped setting in motion the process to develop, package and aggressively market the region.
Top on the agenda, he said, was the development of the necessary auxiliary infrastructure to ensure that the sites are accessible and attractive to both local and international tourists.
“We have adopted a one-government approach to achieve this. Already there is an inter-ministerial team in place which is looking at what each of the government departments and agencies can contribute towards tourism development, promotion, and sustainability,” he said.
This, he added, will also attract public-private partnerships (PPPs) to ensure that the sector has proper infrastructure, including roads, airstrips, and hotel facilities.
Ololtuaa said the western tourism circuit, which comprises over 14 counties, was largely untapped, adding that the campaign would redirect traffic to the area and connect it with other tourism hubs in the country.
Through the initiative, the Ministry, in collaboration with the Kenya Tourism Board (KTB), he said, will aggressively market Lake Victoria, water sports, islands, historical sites, cultural diversity, and wildlife in the area to shore up tourism numbers.
“We are looking for ways of connecting the western tourism circuit with Maasai Mara so that tourists coming to see the Wildebeest migration can extend their stay to sample Lake Victoria, water sports, and visit our islands and other attractions sites dotted across the region,” he said.
One of the proposals, he added, was to do a tarmac road linking Awendo to Kilgoris to ensure ease of movement for visitors from Maasai Mara to Homa Bay and Kisumu counties.
The goal of the campaign, he added, was to increase the number of tourists visiting the country to five million by the year 2027.
“The numbers are looking good. In 2023, we registered 2.086 million tourists. For the first half of this year, we have already hit the one million mark, and we are looking forward to meeting our target of 2.5 million by the end of the year,” he said.
Speaking at Ndeere Island National Park in Kisumu during a visit in preparation for the UN World Tourism Day celebrations to be marked on Friday in Kisumu city, the PS urged county governments to play an active role in the marketing of the region’s attraction sites while leveraging on their networks to boost domestic tourism.
“The national park here is a gem. It is the only island in the country that is a national park. Through this campaign, we hope to get a private investor to put up a hotel here so that visitors coming to sample Lake Victoria can have a place to stay,” he said.
Kisumu County Chief Officer in- Charge of Tourism, Timothy Kajwang, said Kisumu County’s win to host the national celebrations was a testament to the efforts put in place by the county government to market it as a tourism hub.
“Kisumu continues to attract international and national conferences. In 2022 we held the Africities conference; this year we had the FESTAC festival, and in November we shall have the Afrinet conference. This is because we have deliberately allocated resources to market Kisumu as a tourism hub,” he said.
Lake Victoria Tourism Association (LVTA) Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Charles Gatoro called for enhanced private sector involvement in the development of the sector.
Gatoro said some of the major attraction sites in the area were underutilised due to a lack of infrastructure, calling on the government to create an enabling environment for the private sector to invest.
“The private sector can help bridge the gap through the development of hotels and accommodation facilities in some of these areas to attract visitors and generate revenue for the government,” he said.
By Chris Mahandara
