The trailblazing woman defining tourism sector

One of the things that we did is we prioritised our key source markets and with that we also prioritised the products that we are selling to those markets through digital media. So we embraced digital as a media that allows us to be able to have a wider footprint, globally. We also developed and focused on domestic tourism. Now, domestic tourism within that period grew by 54 per cent and the benefits that domestic tourism allows you, is that the ability to fill in your short break season but also doesn’t suffer from travel advisory, security threats/myths and fluctuations. Because you are talking about the citizen who has a clear understanding of where there might be security challenges. So what we found out is that yes our key source markets are important but then over and above that we began to look at our domestic tourism. Domestic tourism globally, actually, has the ability to increase the revenue that comes to our destination if properly managed. Your international source will typically plan one holiday to Africa so you want to optimize that they are here and the revenue that they are going to spend when they are here but what you have with your domestic audience is that you can have repeated experiences in your destination; you just have to identify the experiences for them that they will be able to partake.

The single entry East Africa Tourist visa that we got into partnership with Rwanda and Uganda has significantly increased the traffic between the three countries and they have benefitted. We must understand that we are not in competition, because despite the fact that Kenya has safaris, the experience itself is very different from the one you might experience in Uganda or Tanzania. The terrain is different, the way it is served is different, the experience that you’ll have is different and also the way people in Uganda for instance will present a product is very different than the one presented in Rwanda or Kenya. So to say that you’ve experienced a safari in Uganda then I don’t see the need to experience one in Tanzania is to say that you have shopped in Thailand and therefore you never need to shop again. East Africa is extremely diverse and extremely unique.

What we have currently is the Northern Corridor Integration Project which is an on-going program that involves partner states of EAC to promote integration by fast tracking projects for the benefit of citizens and the development of the region. Trade usually is the key driver but as a by-product or a benefit to that trade you are able to then have tourism growth. Because if people visit a destination that isn’t their home, they are likely to do more than just visit that destination for a meeting – they look at what other opportunities are there at the destination and what more they can do there. So that’s quite interesting from that perspective. Looking at Europe and Asia, we learn that it is not about competition now but about cooperation – it is about utilising the strengths of each country and coming together in bettering the whole region.

The trailblazing woman defining tourism sector

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