Kenya Tourism Board (KTB) has launched an online tourism product directory that will house all tourism information in the country. The online portal will be a one-stop-shop with information on attraction sites, tour guides and operators as well as accommodation facilities.
All this information will be available on the revamped Magical Kenya website and will target local, regional, international travel and tourism providers. Launching the online portal, Cabinet Secretary for East Africa Affairs, Commerce and Tourism Phyllis Kandie, noted that Kenya has a lot of untapped potential in the tourism sector, majorly in the counties which can be discovered and promoted to benefit the country through the online platform.
“The importance of online presence in marketing tourism cannot be gain-said. More and more of certain key segments of the audience we are targeting, heavily rely on social media and other online platforms as a source of information. The counties are also not left out, as they have an opportunity to showcase their untapped potential in tourism of diverse and unique attractions existing in their regions,” said the CS.
KTB Managing Director Muriithi Ndegwa praised the ministry’s move, adding that KTB will partner with Jovaco, an online hotel booking agency, to enhance online marketing and reach. “KTB will always partner with players in the industry to offer deals in different destinations across Kenya, to encourage and promote domestic tourism,” said Ndegwa.
County executive committee member for trade, industrialization, cooperative development and tourism in Nairobi county, Anna Othoro expressed her optimism in the tourism sector revival saying: “There is a lot in our counties that the world doesn’t know and this is an important stride in the sector to unravel our potential in tourism. Everyone goes online first before traveling to their destination.”
This comes at a time when numbers on tourists visiting the country have plummeted due to insecurity that has gripped the country. The CS however she said that resilient plans to replenish the sector have been put in place noting the establishment of the Tourism Recovery Task Force as one of them.
“As a ministry, we have partnered with industry players in mapping out recovery plans for the sector, an initiative led by the Tourism Recovery Task Force, which has recommended a raft of measures to help put the sector back on track. We are targeting to attain full tourism potential of three million tourists by 2017,” explained Kandie.
The government has also set aside over Kshs140 million for global advertisement campaigns and charter airline promotions. “Domestic tourism remains a key component in the recovery of our tourism sector. This segment has proved resilient especially during low seasons and we are keen on taking the subsector to the next level,” concluded the CS.
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