Kenyans turn to prayer, sports as Kandie seeks to open up new tourism markets

Kenyans went to church, engaged in sporting activities and toured various places during the Easter weekend.

In Eldoret, self-proclaimed prophet David Owuor of the Ministry of Holiness and Repentance held a crusade that was attended by faithful in their thousands. Some followers flew into the country for the prayer rally.

Traders did booming business ferrying and feeding the crowds that attended the “National Thanksgiving Meeting” at the Eldoret Sports Club.

In Siaya County, residents flocked Kamin Oningo Beach in Rarieda for a boat race in which the winner pocketed Sh10,000.

In Baringo, hotel owners enjoyed a business boom with fully booked rooms. Lake Bogoria Spa Resort general manager Lydia Dentewo said they were stretched to the limit.

“We are still receiving requests from our clients. We are setting up more than 60 cottages and another 150 rooms are nearing completion to cope with the high number tourist accommodation,” she said.

WESTGATE TERRORIST ATTACK

In the Maasai Mara, however, hotels and lodges recorded low bookings due to bad international publicity following the recent terrorist attacks in the country.

“Tourist numbers fell at the beginning of last year due to the polls, but the numbers picked up following a peaceful transition only to be hit again by the Westgate terrorist attack,” Fairmont Mara Safari Club manager Munene Ngotho said.

Given the significant drop in visitors to traditional coastal niche destinations, Tourism ministry has embarked on a spirited campaign to open up new markets.

Cashing in on the growing sports tourism potential of the North Rift is in Cabinet Secretary Phyllis Kandie’s crosshairs, who says an increased, deliberate effort to especially market Iten as a travel destination is high up her ministry’s 2014 second quarter agenda.

Uasin Gishu and Elgeyo-Marakwet counties are widely regarded as the global Mecca of distance running training, with the huge success of athletes from this region igniting an influx of sports tourists keen to “live and train with the champions.”

Last week’s London Marathon double triumph by world marathon record holder Wilson Kipsang and Edna Kiplagat, the double world champions, increased interest from sports tourists especially in Great Britain.

Both Kipsang and Kiplagat live and train in Iten in Elgeyo Marakwet where Great Britain’s greatest ever distance runner Mo Farah also pitched camp for four months along with a group of young, promising British athletes ahead of his marathon debut in London.

Recent attacks on places of worship at the coast, coupled with religious fundamentalism, have dealt a major chink in Kenya’s traditional tourism armour and Mrs Kandie’s team is quickly looking elsewhere, seeking to shore up the vital tourism revenues. (WARAH: Travel advisories, high taxes killing the tourism industry)

“The potential of Kenya’s sports tourism was in full display at the recent London Marathon,” Mrs Kandie said in an interview with the Nation at the weekend.

“I was previewed to watch our heroes and heroines shake the London course and their achievements. The inquiries I received thereafter, especially from Great Britain nationals, about travel to the North Rift where these athletes live and train goes to show that the time for sports tourism to flourish is now,” the minister said.

Mrs Kandie expects added interest this week to follow Monday’s Boston Marathon, where Kenyans are expected to continue their dominance of the world’s oldest annually run marathon.

First Lady Margaret Kenyatta’s decision to spend over two weeks in Iten for high altitude training ahead of her London Marathon charity run was further endorsement to the region’s sports tourism potential.

Besides athletics, Elgeyo-Marakwet is popular with professional para gliders and cyclists, and the Nation has learnt that an elite Dutch Tour de France cycling team plans to set up their training camp in Iten this year to cash in on the steep climbs and high altitude to prepare for global cycling’s flagship race.

Earlier this year, Kenya-born Tour de France champion Chris Froome of Great Britain, visited Iten and donated 10 racing bikes and other equipment to ‘Team Kenya’ cyclists.

This huge potential is not lost on Elgeyo-Marakwet Governor Alex Tolgos, who says his government has allocated Sh34 million to its tourism budget that will include the undertaking of major activities at the Remoi National Game Reserve, a key tourism site in the county.

Mr Tolgos said at the weekend that the county is a sleeping giant in tourism and confirmed that his administration had already invited national tourism sector players to build capacity for local tourism investors.

“We are blessed to have breathtaking scenery in the county, as well as a great sports tourism potential and these are some of the opportunities we want to take advantage of to lure tourists to visit and stay in our county,” he added.

Speaking during a tour of the Rimoi National Reserve at the weekend, the Elgeyo-Marakwet County executive in charge of tourism, Mrs Ann Kibosia, asked local residents to consider turning their idle land into tourist hubs, saying, lack of land for tourism investment proved a hurdle.

“It is about time our people made bold investments in this sector that pays instead of reaping nothing from their idle land. We actually need a lot of civic education for our people on this issue,” she said.

Besides winning marathons and breaking records, the new London Marathon champion Kipsang is among the biggest investors in Iten, with his newly-opened upmarket Keellu Resort slowly attracting numbers.

The newly tartan running track at the Lornah Kiplagat Sports Academy is another attraction for elite foreign athletes wishing to train in Iten.

The scenic, high-end Kerio View Hotel, home of professional Para gliders and bird-watchers from all over the world, is the jewel in the crown of Iten’s hospitality industry.

Reports by Elias Makori, Philemon Suter, Wycliffe Kipsang and George Sayagie