NAIROBI – The high cost of flying is a major bottleneck in the growth of domestic tourism, a new survey reveals. A report by online travel agency, Travelstart, shows that travel agents have made flying more expensive by over-pricing tickets, thus locking out most local tourists.
Some travel agents charged return tickets to Malindi at Sh14,725 during the survey period, while Travelstart sold the same ticket at almost half the price for Sh7,267. A partnership between Jambojet and Travelstart is expected to push air tickets further down.
“Some travellers to Kisumu were charged Sh13,230 by their agents whereas on Travelstart they would pay Sh5,715. These domestic ticket prices were checked before we introduced Jambojet flights and this is bound to lower the prices available with Travelstart for local flights,” Travelstart country manager Bryan Kariuki told the press today morning.
The survey, titled The Great Rip-Off, sampled 12 routes from Nairobi – three local, five regional and four international. Three type dates (immediate, short-term and long-term) were checked in the second week of October.
Making travel affordable is a crucial component in Kenya’s tourism recovery strategy. With the country reeling under the effects of terrorism, and now Ebola outbreak in West Africa, statistics from the Kenya Tourist Board (KTB) for the first half of the year indicate that international tourist arrivals to Kenya fell 13.6% compared to a similar period last year.
“The numbers have been falling since 2012 and there is need for aggressive marketing to promote domestic tourism in the country to give a facelift to the dwindling figures,” said Ms Waturi Matu, coordinator East African Tourism Platform (EATP). KTB figures show that the domestic contribution to the entire tourism sector has stagnated at 40% for years. The Economic Survey 2014 showed that Kenyans occupied 2,699 bed-nights last year, a drop from 2,787 in 2012.
Travelstart founder and CEO Stephan Ekbergh said the company will continue offering affordable air tickets and promoting Kenya as the best tourist destination. “We believe that African and particularly Kenya can grow if we partake of what we are selling to the global market. Domestic tourism is the way to go,” noted Ekbergh.
