Tourism Cabinet Secretary Dr. Alfred Mutua pledged to turn around the tourism sector in the country and make it the country’s top foreign exchange earner.
Speaking at a Malindi hotel during a tourism stakeholder engagement, Dr. Mutua said his ministry had a plan to revamp the tourism infrastructure in order to attract domestic and foreign tourists, with a special focus on the African tourism market.
He encouraged tourism players not to be discouraged by the current state of affairs and instead invest more into the sector, saying he was optimistic that the future of tourism in the country, and especially at the Coast, was very bright.
“I am very enthusiastic because the future is very bright. I am here to tell you that if you are thinking of closing your hotel and you want to sell it, let me know so that I can buy it from you because I know I will make a lot of money very soon since we are turning around this industry,” he said.
“Tourism used to be the top foreign exchange earner and I can promise you that I will, by God’s grace, be able to bring it to be the number one forex earner in Kenya,” he added.
He said to achieve this feat, the country needs to increase the numbers of tourists and promote high value tourism, which he noted would be possible if the government and stakeholders provided the infrastructure, systems, services, opportunities and circuits of extremely high value.
He said his plan is to make the Coast region the top entertainment and relaxation zone in Africa, even as he also works to improve tourism across the country, adding that the efforts the strategies being put in place would ensure tourist numbers go up.
“It is going to be the Miami of Africa. We want to transform this region into the Riviera of Africa so that people can fly from West Africa, Cuba, Slovakia, Germany, South Africa, Angola… and come here to relax, enjoy and leave their money with us so that our hotels will be full from January to January without a low season,” he said.
The CS said his ministry would initiate projects that would bring changes within two months, noting that he had already allocated funds to start work in Malindi, Watamu, Mombasa and Kwale among other areas.
“We have a big plan. In Mombasa we want to build an aquarium because we do not have an aquarium in this part of the world. Over here, we have already awarded a contract for the construction of a marine research centre that will have another mini aquarium right here in Malindi,” he said.
He said his ministry was in talks with the Ministry of Transport to get direct flights from Kigali to Malindi as the government thinks about the long-term plan of extending the runway at the Malindi International Airport.
Dr. Mutua said Kilifi County, and in particular Malindi, had the potential of making the Coast region a great tourist hub in Africa and that was why the National Government had opted to invest money and programmes to revive the once vibrant sector.
“I want all the hotels in Malindi to be fully occupied by tourists, but to do this we must invest in the improvement of facilities such as lighting, build cabro roads, clean the town in order to have high-value tourism so as to attract many tourists here,” he said.
He asked the tourism stakeholders to give him the specific areas they would like the government to improve and assured them that he would work on their recommendations so that works could start by the end of Match.
Kilifi County Executive Committee Member in charge of Tourism said the county administration had started mapping our old and new tourist attractions in the county and marketing the sites, that include the 356-kilometer beach.
She said the county government in conjunction with the national government were exploring the possibility of building a natural port at Takaungu to encourage cruise tourism.
Stakeholders who spoke during the one-day event lauded the CS for his bold moves and called for an improvement in relevant infrastructure to be able to attract more tourists and bring Malindi back to its former glory.
They called for the speedy extension of the main runway at the Malindi International Airport, clean Malindi and Watamu towns, clean the beaches and install street lights to improve security, build toilets on the beaches as well as ensure tourist police officers are better equipped.
The stakeholders also called for the establishment of iconic sites that would distinguish Malindi from other tourist destinations as well as improve the signage.
They further urged the government to make the Arabuko-Sokoke a better tourist attraction by increasing wild animals and give foreign house owners permanent resident visas so they could visit the country more often.
By Emmanuel Masha
