ICT can help invigorate and diversify Kenyan tourism

What you need to know:

  • The smaller, indigenous hotels are, therefore, left on their own to try to get tourists into zones that are not traditionally marketed by the Kenya Tourist Board.
  • However, private sector ICT efforts and their impact will remain blunted or ineffective, given that our national tourism policy has not provided for how ICTs can be harnessed to play a role in enhancing Kenya as the number one tourist destination.

A quick read of the 2013-2018 National Tourism Strategy shows the reason why information and communication technologies (ICTs) are not being deployed to support our fledgling tourism sector.

Only one paragraph in the Strategy talks about ICTs, stating that there is a need to have information systems to collect, analyse and disseminate tourism-related data to stakeholders.

For a government that prides itself as “digital”, one would have expected to see more emphasis on how ICTs would be deployed in a sector that the strategy policy says is Kenya‘s third-largest foreign exchange earner (after tea and horticulture) and a major employer, accounting for about 12 per cent of the total wage employment and 13.7 per cent of the gross domestic product (GDP).

It’s clear that in order to survive global shocks, Kenya must diversify its tourism portfolio and start thinking of tourist attractions that are considered non-traditional.  Kenya is rich in culture, cuisine, forests and sports, among other non-beach products that must be marketed.

Bulls rehearse to entertain fans at the Moi Show Grounds in Kakamega during the Kakamega Agricultural Show in 2012. PHOTO | ISAAC WALE | NATION MEDIA GROUP.


Western Kenya, for example, has events such as boat racing on Lake Victoria, bullfighting in Kakamega, birdwatching in Kakamega Forest, the remarkable  though some would say barbaric  Bukusu circumcision rites in Bungoma, and mountain climbing in Mt. Elgon.

The North Rift has the famous Iten training tracks that snake through the scenic Kerio Valley, while Turkana boasts and hosts the cradle of mankind, among other tourist attractions.

How can ICTs be deployed to mature these markets as tourist destinations both for local and international tourists?

UNDISCOVERED POTENTIAL

One possible ICT intervention is to have a payment platform that would enable tourists to complete the booking of a holiday online. These, of course, do exist, and are being used by leading international hotel chains such as Hilton, Serena or Intercontinental, where tourists complete payments using international cards like Visa.

A hornbill munches on wild fruits on a tree at Elagerini Travellers Tented Camp in Naiberi, Uasin Gishu County, on January 8, 2013. PHOTO | JARED NYATAYA | NATION MEDIA GROUP

Fishermen participate in a boat race on Lake Victoria at Kamin Oningo beach in Rarieda constituency to celebrate Easter on April 20, 2014. Kenya is rich in culture, cuisine, forests and sports, among other non-beach products that must be marketed, John Walubengo writes. PHOTO | JACOB OWITI | NATION MEDIA GROUP


These international hotels, however, have positioned themselves to harness the traditional sun, sand and sea tourism products, and focus on high-value international tourists. They do not target the middle class, domestic tourism or the undiscovered potential of cultural and eco-tourism found elsewhere in Kenya.  

The smaller, indigenous hotels are therefore left on their own to try to get tourists into zones that are not traditionally marketed by the Kenya Tourist Board. Most of these smaller hotels lack presence on the Internet, with the few that have websites often failing to provide online payment platforms for their services. 

COMPLEMENT 'MAGICAL KENYA'

Perhaps Visa or MasterCard feel that that such operations are too small or insecure to join their list of merchants. The National Tourism Strategy should, therefore, have contained a specific section that outlines how such small players can build the capacity to bring their operations online, thereby increasing their market presence while improving efficiency within their business operations.

Tabowa Rock, one of the highest points in North Nandi forest. Forests in the country might be endangered due to failure by county assemblies to pass laws to protect them. PHOTO | MARY MBENGE |


Local private sector efforts do exist in this space. "Micro" services such as the PesaPal online payment gateway and the Afrileo online marketing portal try to unpack tourism products for the middle class. These would complement the efforts of the government-owned Magical Kenya portal that seems designed for high-value markets. 

However, private sector ICT efforts and their impact will remain blunted or ineffective, given that our national tourism policy has not provided for how ICTs can be harnessed to play a role in enhancing Kenya as the number one tourist destination.

There is, therefore, an urgent need to review the national tourism strategy document with the intent to explore and document how ICTs can play a major role in diversifying our tourism portfolio, as well as increasing the number of both local and domestic tourists who visit our country.

Mr Walubengo is a lecturer at the Multimedia University of Kenya, Faculty of Computing and IT. Twitter:@jwalu