Tourism stakeholders warm up to high season

Though tourism industry players are all raved up for the sector?s peak season this year, they still have their eyes on the local and regional market.

"There is potential in local tourism, and this can be actualised when we have concerted efforts from different industries. Many sectors benefit from growth in tourism, hence the need for all of us to play part in marketing the country," said Mr Christine Obiya, chief executive Amazing Space that organised a travel exhibition in Nairobi.

The four-day event was concluded yesterday and brought together tour operators, hoteliers and other players from the five East African countries.

"We had exhibitors from across the region, and a large number of people visiting the stands, most of them Kenyans, but also tourists on holiday in Kenya," she said.

Mr Alfayo Onyango, general manager of Mombasa?s Plaza Beach Hotel said the industry was witnessing a busy time and is confident that performance this year would be much better than last year. He added that local tourism was important in sustaining current growth momentum.

"The industry has now fully recovered and what we are looking at is growth and sustaining it in years to come. To do this, we have to look at local and international markets," said Onyango.

The industry expects the East African Common market to be a boost, but at a gradual rate.　

"The impact of a common market will be a positive one, but we do not expect to feel it immediately as there is still a lot of groundwork to be done in terms of regional marketing," said Mr Mike Macharia, chief executive Kenya Association of Hotel Keepers and Caterers.

"There is immense potential in cross-border tourism and when everything eventually falls into place, we can easily command 50 per cent of our total tourism numbers from the Region."

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