Writes Leo Odera Omolo

KENYA will have to re-think about its marketing strategies in order to attract more high-end tourism from its traditional markets whose revenue dropped by USD 329 million last year.

Kenya earned a total of USD 021 million up by 18 per cent from USD 7680 million the previous year, but this figure fell below the USD 1.15 billion target.

Tourist arrival fell below the 1.2 million targets to settle at 1,095,842, as key markets registered a drop in performance with exception of Italy that recorded a 10 per cent rise in visitors compared with 2009 figures.

United Kingdom went down 2.4 per cent and Germany by 1.1 per cent as South Africa and Switzerland fell by 0.3 per cent.

The Minister for Tourism Najib Balala was last week quoted by the weekly EASTAFRICAN as saying that Kenya will need to spend more on marketing its beaches and game safaris, and stop political infighting, which was souring the country’s image.

“This way,” said the Minister, “Kenya will be able to meet the two million target tourist’s arrival by 2012 and three million by 2015”. He said this while releasing the full year industry performance results for the 2010. “So far we have done well investing in the new markets such as India, China and Africa, but we need to do more,” he added.

The Minister disclosed that more resources would be invested in aggressive campaigns this year to help the industry tap from the political turmoil in North Africa affecting key competitors namely Egypt, Morocco and Tunisia.

Despite declining numbers, the old markets maintained the lead in tourist’s arrivals. The United Kingdom took the lead registering 174,051 followed by the US 107,842 while Italy and Germany took third and fourth positions at 87,694 and 63,011.France took the fifth position with 50.009 visitors.

Although regional performance has not been fully tallied, Uganda topped the African market with 33,900 tourists followed by South Africa at 33,076, Tanzania had 30,264 tourists.

From Asian markets, India led the pack with 47,611 arrivals followed by China 28,480 and United Arab Emirates saw 14,874 tourists visit the country However, the figure exclude the cross border tour9st arrival which could add up to another approximately 700,000 once the results is fully tallied according to the Ministry.

Meanwhile the 15 member countries of the Southern African Development Community {SADC} are scheduled to hold a meeting in June this year to determine the date and time table when a single tourists visa will be introduced.

The meeting will be held in the Zambian capital, Lusaka. Billed as a “grand debate” the meeting is expected to come up with an action plan that will lead to the establishment of the single tourist visa.

This was recently disclosed by the Tanzania’s Minister for Natural Resources and Tourism Ezekiel Maige who said the move will save the visitors the trouble of hopping from one embassy to another to apply for the visa for the country they intended to visit within the SADC trading bloc.

SADC has a membership of 15 countries namely Angola, Botswana, Democratic Republic of Congo {DRC}, Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Seychelles, South Africa, Swaziland, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

He minister was further quoted as saying that although tourism has the potential to become of Southern Africa’s largest industries, the sector’s growth is hampered by unnecessary visa requirements.

Another top official of the Tourism Organization of Southern Africa {retosa} was quoted in the same context as saying that Southern African states largest industry, the sector’s growth is hampered by unnecessary visa requirements.

Dr.Brodah Munganidze said the Southern Africa trading bloc hampered by the lack reliable air transport. Apart from South Africa,other countries in the region have small airlines that susceptible to global economic fluctuations. “ In June this year we shall debate the possibility of establishing a joint SADC airline that will make our region more competitive in tourism industry..

The role of RETOSA is to encourage the relevant sector in the region to establish a tourism visa in order to increase the market share and revenue of the region in the world tourism. The proposal to establish single airline is also aimed art making air travel to be the cheapest means of transport in the region.

Ends

leooderaomolo@yahoo.com