CS Miano lays out strategy to boost tourism after meeting with stakeholders

Tourism and Wildlife Cabinet Secretary Rebecca Miano says her ministry is working towards increasing tourist arrivals to five million by 2027 from the current 2.086 million people.

Miano who spoke during a meeting with officials from the Kenya Tourism Federation and Kenya Tourists Guides said partnerships with various players will help the country record an increment of revenue from the current Sh352 billion to about Sh824 billion annually.

"My commitment is to build synergies with the private sector to develop a common approach in transforming the tourism sector to be the number one contributor of foreign exchange earnings, job creation and GDP Growth," she said.

"As a Ministry, we applaud the private sector contribution and partnerships in hosting and participating in local and international events; marketing campaigns; policy advocacy; developing innovative tourism products and Market Intelligence Sharing," she added.

Tourism Cabinet Secretary Rebecca Miano during a meeting with stakeholders in the tourism sector held on Wednesday at KICC in Nairobi. She announced a strategy to improve tourism in the country. (Photo: Barack Oduor)

Going forward Miano revealed that her ministry was working to develop the National Tourism Strategy as they work towards coming up with initiatives that will help boost domestic tourism.

"We will work together to develop incentives on affordable travel and accommodation to support the growth of our domestic tourism. As a ministry, we are developing an annual calendar of tourism events and we will be enhancing our synergies to partner and ensure we have all year-round events promoting domestic tourism. We will soon be inviting you to launch the Tembea Kenya campaign," she said.

As part of the strategy, the CS said the government will be using the upcoming UN World Tourism Day set for the 27th of next month to promote domestic tourism.

"We will be celebrating the UN World Tourism Day on September 27, 2024, which we want to optimise as a key strategy towards promoting domestic and international tourism. We have already engaged the various counties to bid for the hosting of the event. Additionally, we will champion the celebration of the day in all the counties," she said

Other areas which Miano said she will be seeking collaboration with the private sector is on digitizing the tourism sector as well as financing mechanisms to support sector growth.

"We are committed towards developing virtual tours, and developing the Tourist App that will provide recommendations, information of attractions and digitized guided tours," she said.