Race for tourists as Africa revamps sector

Nairobi. “Travelling leaves you speechless and then turns you into a storyteller.” These were the words of the Kenya Tourism Board CEO, Dr Betty Radier during the opening night of the Magical Kenya Travel Expo on October 4, 2022 that was held at the Bomas of Kenya in Nairobi.

When the world came to a painful grinding standstill, courtesy of Covid-19, one of the world’s biggest industries suffered major damage and setbacks. Tourism is not just about travelling to destinations and seeing wildlife or marine life.

Tourism is a complete experience. From the booking of flights with travel agents, to the accommodation staff, the tour guides, the chefs and waiters, the IT guys who work full time behind the scenes to keep the systems and websites running like a well-oiled machine and even the locals you find at whatever destination you choose, tourism touches every aspect of life.

Unfortunately, a global lockdown meant massive loss of jobs, complete shutdown of hotels and the world of tourism came to a fearful standstill as uncertainty over what the future of travel looked like and how countries were to move forward in sustaining their tourist attractions.

However, the pandemic also saw innovation push tourism companies to try to diversify their operations after hundreds of thousands of individuals in the tourism and hospitality sector lost their jobs.

One very notable and in-thing during the peak of the pandemic became virtual tourism, which flourished largely in South Africa and Kenya and parts of northern Tanzania, as people globally signed into these various platforms to experience virtual safaris from the comfort of their couches.

While this became a very welcome distraction from the monotony of being indoors day in and day out, virtual safaris eventually lost their appeal for one reason - Tourism is a full experience of all the senses.

The bright side to the closure of borders, many countries, Tanzania included, saw the rise in numbers of domestic tourists. This effect can be echoed in many other countries worldwide as people began to look for outlets to help deal with the mental and even physical strain that came with being indoors.

Fast forward two years post-pandemic, countries began to cautiously open their borders and international travel slowly and cautiously picked up.

However, the remnants of fear over the damage caused by the pandemic still lingered and this situation has prompted governments to come up with means to bring in the flocks of tourists.

The turnout for many of the different country’s initiatives has then gone beyond attracting international tourists to promoting local tourism activity within the countries. This then has boosted the industry’s optimism for an even better experience for those visiting and obviously, bigger revenue for the country.

Tanzania - The Royal Tour

The Royal Tour is Tanzania’s first official tourism campaign post Covid-19 and sees Tanzania’s President Samia Suluhu Hassan take viewers on a visual excursion of Tanzania’s culture, heritage, natural resources, tourist attractions, and helps to provide information that helps visitors to become acquainted with the places even before visiting them personally.

While the decision to first launch in the USA, brought questions to many Tanzanians, the choice was deliberate as Tanzania seeks high spenders looking for unique experiences such as trophy hunting, safaris and to climb Mount Kilimanjaro.

Evidently, the documentary proved to be a successful hit as famous faces have been quoted in appreciation over how informative the documentary is and the influx of tourists visiting the country has risen exponentially.

Also Read: Tanzania Tourist Board tops Africa ranking

Hidden Tanzania - After the success of The Royal Tour, President Hassan revealed that the second part of The Royal Tour documentary, to be known as The Hidden Tanzania, is in the pipeline and will focus on the Southern circuit.

Kenya - Magical Kenya Travel Expo (MKTE)

Running under the theme of ‘Rediscover the magic’, the Kenya Tourism Board put together a two week long travel experience and expo that brought together a variety of individuals from every continent.

The event which brought together buyers and investors, media, travel and safari companies, culinary and hospitality individuals and other service providers in the tourism industry who were treated to a fully holistic experience of Kenya.

Because tourism is not just about travel, the experiences included four day destination visits across the entire country including safari visits and beach destinations including: The Nairobi National Park, Shaba Game Reserve, Lake Nakuru National Park, Diani, Mutara Conservancy, Watamu and Buffalo Springs amongst others.

To further bring home the importance and wide reach of tourism, visits to villages that depend largely on tourism now, such as the Samburu people who have been affected by the long drought currently going on, were also organised.

“This particular edition of MKTE is very important as it is the first in-person event we have had since Covid-19 struck,” says Dr Radier. It now sets the bar for how tourism gets to diversify and explore other means such as digital tourism for East Africa.

“To keep up with the fast changing needs and interests of visitors as well as the challenges the industry faces, there is a need for swift action in the industry to adjust its strategies for tourism development from time to time,” she said further.

Rwanda - Influencer promotions

The face of tourism promotion in Rwanda is different from her East African neighbours. For starters, Rwanda has positioned itself as a sponsor for the football clubs, PSG in France and English Premier League’s Arsenal and in doing so, encourages travel for football fans via influencers.

“We also hold tourism fairs and roadshows all over the world, with the next roadshow set to happen in December in the USA,” says Brian Kaddu who is the Tours Manager for Mist Rwanda Safaris.

Tembera U Rwanda

Tembera U Rwanda campaign was launched by the government of Rwanda through the Rwanda Development Boards in 2016 with the goal to boost domestic tourism.

The campaign started then with the theme “Tourism for all” which was literally a call for the people of Rwanda to change their mind-set of thinking that tourism is only for the rich or international travellers.

Brian explained that it was believed that the Rwandese were the best people to sell their country and the campaign proved successful.

Kwita Izina

However, Brian also explains that Rwanda is famously known for its gorilla life and is one of the only three countries in Africa that is home to the gorillas, the other two being Congo and Uganda.

“Because of the demand to observe and trek in the gorilla habitats, Rwanda aims to pull a very specific clientele and as such, we have positioned ourselves strategically in terms of the types of packages we offer and the experiences that come with,” said Brian.

“Amongst the efforts to promote our gorillas, we also hold an annual naming ceremony for every new-born baby in each family over the passing year. This event is called the ‘Kwita Izina Gorilla Naming Ceremony’ and we rely on influencers in the conservation circles and other celebrities whom we then task with naming any given gorilla,” he explained.

“This year, the naming ceremony was held on September 2 and saw Didier Drogba and Sauti Sol attend physically to name their respective gorillas while King Charles named his virtually.”

Brian further expresses how helpful it has been to use influencers as part of their strategy to promote tourism for Rwanda.

Uganda - Experience Uganda

One of the three African homes to the gorillas, Uganda also has taken active measures to promoting these habitats and according to Sharon Menga from the Uganda Tourism Board, the advantage that Uganda rides on is the close proximity of the habitats from the city which means that one can have a day-long excursion into the wild and be back home with time to spare.

Uganda also hosts the annual Pearl of Africa Tourism Expo and post-pandemic, the first in-person event will be held in February of 2023.

Zambia - Zambia Tourism Expo (Zatex)

Similar to Kenya’s MKTE, the Zatex event is an annual, week-long event that also brings together tourism industry players and has been running for a period of 10 years.

Unfortunately, due to the outbreak, the event also came to a standstill and is yet to resume. Zatex not only promotes Zambia as one of the world’s best tourism destinations, with the country being home to one of the 7 natural wonders of the world, Victoria Falls; but also brings front and centre, the diverse wildlife and colourful cultural experiences.

According to Tourism Promotional Assistance for the Zambia Tourism Agency, Mr Andrew Katete, there is a cultural festival happening each month so any interested visitor is in for a treat should they choose to take part.

School Tourism

This initiative has become an extracurricular activity recognised in the national education curricula that teaches all aspects of tourism from the moment a child sets foot in school all the way to upper secondary levels.

Activities and learning methods for this initiative include school and inter-school competitions, quizzes and television programs that are specifically curated for the minds of growing children.

This project has now reached at 50 percent of its intended establishment plans and caters to all manner of schools, both private and government.

Zimbabwe - Stokvels for domestic tourism

It is common practice for many Tanzanian women to come together and form vicoba to help push their financial agenda and growth.

The Zimbabwe Tourism Authority, in partnership with tour operators across the country have made the use of stokvels (the equivalent of vicoba) an official means to promote domestic tourism.

“When covid-19 hit, we were already in a not-so-good place and tourism in our country suffered a great deal,” explained Ruth Nyabadza, the Marketing Executive - Middle East for the Zimbabwe Tourism Authority.

“However, in the midst of all that, Zimbabweans awoke to the joys of travel and we saw the numbers of domestic tourism grow.”

In addition to promoting domestic tourism, Zimbabwe, like Kenya, will also be holding their first in-person tourism expo next week which will also bring together global tourism players.

The event is called ‘Sanganai/Hlanganani World Tourism Expo but was formerly known as the Zimbabwe Travel Expo until it was rebranded in 2002.

The way forward

According to the Cabinet Secretary for Tourism in Kenya, Mr Najib Balala, in moving forward with tourism factors such as positive promotion, sustainable mechanisms and unforgettable experiences are amongst the things service providers and governments alike should strive for.

He also explained the importance of friendly and conducive environments for both providers and consumers if there is any hope for Tourism to prosper.

“Currently, covid-19 effects already shed a negative light on tourism as well as the high prices of travel that are associated with travel,” said Najib.

“To counter that, we need to consider improving air connectivity, in terms of cheaper rates, for starters goes a long way in boosting international tourism in the region. Likewise, trans boundary connectivity in terms of road and rail will help boost domestic tourism. We also need to find effective ways to ensure the safety of tourists coming into our countries,” he added.

Najib also talked about the importance of having uniform and coordinated visa regiments and protocols in East Africa that would undoubtedly make travel into the region much smoother.

“We should not look at each other as competitors, rather as partners looking to boost regional tourism because we are interdependent on one another,” said Najib.

Seeing the efforts that each country is doing individually, taken on a wider scale, these various activities and platforms are beneficial to each, if taken and learnt from. The vast opportunities that tourism expos provide for service providers and the potential revenue to each country means that each has the chance to grow and diversify.

However, many of these goals would be effectively realised and achieved faster, if governments, tourism boards and agents and even destinations made use of the media not just to create and send a message on the available resources, but use them as advocates through full immersion experiences.

Dr Betty Radier said that travelling leaves you speechless and turns you into a storyteller, and she also added that the world is a book and those who do not travel read only one page.

Effectively, if one is looking to sell an experience and destination, you need an epic storyteller and you cannot have an epic storyteller that has only read one page.