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.