Author: staff reporter
https://english.news.cn/20220624/99b74f339f914f19b480b692548bc6c9/c.html
Chinese President Xi Jinping on Wednesday attended the opening ceremony of the BRICS Business Forum and delivered a keynote speech in Beijing via video link, urging its members to embrace solidarity and expand win-win cooperation and openness in the pursuit of peace, stability and sustainable global development.
The Kenya Tourism Board (KTB) has launched a domestic tourism marketing campaign aimed at boosting efforts to revitalize the tourism industry.
Consequently, the Board has enlisted the partnership of the domestic travel trade to make the campaign impactful through conversation into sales of tour packages.
Christened “you deserve a holiday” the campaign is tailored to support the sector by rallying Kenyans to travel to various destinations within the country to keep the domestic market a key anchor to the industry that has borne the adverse effects of the Covid-19 pandemic.
According to KTB, the partnership with the travel trade will see them combine resources, messaging, and marketing initiatives with an aim of sustaining long-term demand for domestic travel.
While commenting on the new campaign, KTB CEO Dr. Betty Radier said that the program was part of the strategy aimed at addressing challenges facing the tourism industry as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic.
“Through this campaign, we aim to address the challenges that the tourism industry continues to face as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. The sector has faced reduced uptake of hospitality services, closure of properties, and laying off of staff. One of the key lessons that we have learned during this period is that the domestic market has great potential to sustain the industry as it has been key in keeping many businesses afloat when international travel was minimal,” said Radier.
She added that trade partners and experience owners were key to the sector since they own businesses that attract travelers and therefore the board would partner with them to push the campaign “Tourism and travel businesses have benefited from the domestic market and this is the reason we shall be working together in the campaign. We have seen that the Kenyan consumer is eager to travel, we want to show them that they can also enjoy their own country,” she added.
Through the campaign, KTB will be seeking to address several challenges that continue to hinder domestic travel, including perceptions of affordability lack of planning culture, and lack of awareness on the available products and experiences available for the domestic travelers
Dr. Radier further urged players in the tourism sector to make a paradigm shift and develop packages and offers that fit into the new holiday calendar to enable Kenyans to make appropriate decisions and plans for vacations.
The tourism sector has been among the worst-hit sectors by the pandemic due to the closure of borders and cancellation of flights, as economies globally moved to control the pandemic. Kenya’s sector has heavily depended on forward bookings from international travelers pre-pandemic period, with the clientele taking more than half of the accommodation services. This placed most of the hotels, camps, and tour companies at mercy of local tourists, especially the growing middle-class with disposable incomes.
The industry has however been on a recovery path with the sector earnings jumping 65 percent to Sh146.51 billion last year up from Sh88.56 billion in 2020, according to the Kenya Tourism Sector Performance Report of 2021.
The report further noted that the domestic bed nights grew by 101.3 percent between 2020 and 2021 while international bed nights grew by 0.05 percent, an indication that the hospitality sector in Kenya has largely been supported by domestic travel in 2021.
The government attributed this performance to high demand from domestic tourists that took over hotels, coastal beaches, and parks.
The Kenya Private Sector Alliance (KEPSA) today
presented the Private Sector Economic Manifesto for Nairobi County to the Azimio La
Umoja-One Kenya Alliance candidate for Governor, Mr. Polycarp Igathe.
The manifesto emphasizes eight thematic areas where the private sector wants changed,
on how the capital city is governed including e-government, compliance and enforcement,
healthcare, competitiveness, jobs creation as well as culture, and social inclusion.
Other priority interventions include a working and sustainable urban mobility and
transport system, an integrated urban land use plan, water, wastewater and solid waste
management, and robust security & disaster risk management agenda for the city.
In presenting the manifesto, KEPSA hopes to influence both the presidential and
Gubernatorial candidates to incorporate the private-sector economic agenda into their
leadership manifesto. According to Carole Kariuki, KEPSA Chief Executive Officer (CEO),
Nairobi requires a leader who will prioritize making Nairobi a competitive, green,
inclusive, resilient, and safe city to live, work and do business.
“KEPSA has been key in advancing legislative advocacy work around improving the
business environment and our development model through Public-Private Partnerships,
and this will be key in driving the economy of the county. It is time to make our city
workable and tourist-friendly to transform it to greater heights”, said Kariuki.
In KEPSA’s wish list for the county, is the call to embrace technology for a world-class
mobility and transport system coupled with proper management of traffic and congestion
in the city with full implementation of the national address system.
Others are the strengthening and availability of public health services including capacity
building and recruitment of adequate staff as well as the development of an integrated
system to manage water supply by increasing sufficiency, harvesting, and recycling as
well as adopting smart waste management systems for Nairobi.
“The next county government must ensure the complete restoration of Nairobi River and
its tributaries. It is time to start having outdoor concerts by the rivers and parks around
the city”, added Kariuki.
Similarly, the private sector wants the establishment and operationalization of a County
Disaster Operation Center, fully equipped with Early Warning Systems, hazard mapping,
a disaster monitoring database, and Standard Operating Procedures detailing the full
continuum of procedures for handling Level 1 and Level 2 disasters.
Speaking at the event, Igathe said if elected he will seek to create a fit-for-purpose county
government in the first one hundred days, with motivated staff and cabinet, to deliver on
his vision of Nairobi, adding that he will institute a five-year score card pegged on a yearly
performance agreement with the public.
Siaya County Senator, James Orengo, has begun pushing for the enactment of widows’ charter into the County laws and lobby legislators to make it a national law.
If passed into law, it will protect widows against harmful practices like cleansing, Inheritance, physical assault and property disinheritance that remain key challenges facing widows in the County.
“Women rights require that we treat women with dignity and the people who need dignity most are widows because many times their rights are being violated in the homes and within communities. We must make sure that when the husband dies, the widow will be in charge of the family and all the property. I think we can make the law better,”
The Charter developed by Rona Foundation incorporating views of over 8,000 widows from six Siaya Sub County was submitted to Siaya County Assembly in May 2021.
It calls on the County Government to adapt into law and implement the widows charter to legislate a Widow’s Protection Bill- that will make the violation of Widows rights unlawful
“Part of the law of Siaya County in the next County Assembly, will be the widows’ charter and am challenging Otiende Amollo and other national assembly legislators to make it a national law as their first duty in the next parliament,” said Orengo.
The charter also calls for establishment of the Office of Widowed Persons within the department of Gender & social protection to address policies, strategies, and implementation mechanisms including frameworks and formulated schemes to enable widows access resources and support on priority to attain UN Sustainable Development Goals, more specifically Goal No. 5.
Come Together Widows and Orphans Organization (CTWOO) Founder, Dianah Kamande said pursuing justice has been a major challenge to widows especially those who are already victims of gender-based-violence since it requires a lot of money for the justice process, which they lack.
“Poverty has made it hard for them to afford lawyers hence the lack of representation also results in difficulties in the pursuit for justice where they end up not getting justice at all,” she said.
CTWOO is a nonprofit Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) that creates a safe space where widows and survivors of gender-based violence can share their experiences and ideas. It has nationwide network working with over 1 million widows in all the 47 counties
Orengo who spoke when he officiated the commemoration of International Widows Day (IWD) 2022 said Kenya needs more women leaders for women rights to be honoured.
The theme for this year’s IWD is ‘Dignity – Economic Empowerment and Social Justice for Widows’ in recognition of the extricable link between economic empowerment, poverty and social justice for the dignity of all widows.
During the event, a Ksh. 30 Million kitty was unveiled to spur growth of small businesses run by widows and enable them to venture into new income generating activities.
The funds pooled from Women Enterprise Fund, Uwezo Fund, Youth Fund and National government affirmative fund will support among other initiatives, like fish caging, poultry farming and table banking.
Siaya County Women Representative, Dr. Christine Ombaka said, “Widows have a history of working hard to improve the well-being of families and children. That is why the government has set aside funds to boost your businesses and strengthen your socio-economic initiatives.”
Rarieda Member of Parliament, Otiende Amollo, said if Azimio-one Kenya Alliance forms the next government, widows- ranked among the most vulnerable, will be the first beneficiaries of Ksh 6,000 monthly stipend.
“What you may not have known is that in the order of listing, that will be done in conjunction with county commissioners, we start with the most vulnerable, and the most vulnerable are the widows,” said Amollo.
The 2019 Census confirmed that there are over 1 million widows living in Kenya and the number is expected to be on the rise due to challenges such as the Covid-19 and increasing incidences of accidents.