Tourism and Wildlife Cabinet Secretary (CS) Alfred Mutua has called on players in the tourism sector to modernise their hotels and other destinations in efforts to attract the modern type of tourists.
The CS made the remarks on Monday at the Kenyatta International Convention Centre (KICC) when he met tourism stakeholders to brainstorm and come up with ideas to improve the performance of the sector.
To counter all these challenges, the CS said that he is ready and welcomes every new and modern ideas, consult with the stakeholders and work as a team.
“In efforts to modernize our tourism destinations, the government has also started building a conference center at the Bomas of Kenya which will also boost the tourism sector,” said Mutua.
Further, Mutua said that the government should not wait until there are international meetings to renovate some of its buildings like KICC, Museums, game reserves, and the parks and other hotels as they should be in good condition all the time to attract more tourists throughout the year the same way other countries do.
He cited lack of awareness as one of the major setbacks making tourism to lag behind since the wildlife are not being advertised to the relevant market.
While welcoming the stakeholder’s inputs, Mutua lauded his new assignment acknowledging that he is excited to meet his co-team which he will be closely working with in the ministry.
The CS noted that he is disappointed with Kenya’s tourism performance since it has dropped and is now receiving only about 1.4 million tourists per year.
In addition, the CS blamed the tourism stakeholders in the hospitality sector such as those in the hotels, airport and Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) for harassing the tourists making them shy away from coming back to the country as opposed to other countries where that are warmly received.
“Therefore, the visitors should be handled with care so as to feel that warm welcome so that they may come back next time. With this, Kenya can regain its position,” said Mutua.
Mutua said for Kenya to rise again in the tourism sector, county governors should also work closely with the ministry to mark and diversify tourism.
On the human- wildlife conflict, the CS said that the Ministry has set Sh 1.1 billion to compensate the affected families.
At the same time, he said that the Ministry should educate communities to know how to co-exist with wildlife so as to stop human-wildlife conflict.
By Nkooma Samson and Okal Kevin
