NAIROBI, Dec. 16 (Xinhua) – Kenya’s tourism earnings are set to increase following a raft of reforms introduced to transform the sector, a senior government official said on Friday. Tourism Permanent Secretary Leah Gwiyo, who met representatives from tourism ministry parastatals during a courtesy call by the South Sudan Minister for Tourism Wildlife and Forestry Gabriel Changson Chang, cited the recently enacted Tourism Act as one of the ministry’s achievements that was key in transforming operations within the sector, hence enhancing returns.
“South Sudan was still a young country and encouraged the minister to borrow a leaf from countries like Kenya, whose tourism sectors growth had recorded positive trends,” Gwiyo said according to a statement from the ministry issued in Nairobi after the meeting. Her remarks come at a time when the ministry has announced a 16 percent increase in tourism arrivals for the concluded period of January to October. Kenyan Tourism Minister Najib Balala said on Dec. 9 that tourists’ arrivals between January to October rose to 1.03 million visitors, compared to 896,228 in the same period in 2010, a 16 percent growth.
The nine-month tourism earnings shot up to 907 million U.S. dollars, compared to 534 million dollars in 2010, a 44.4 percent rise in earnings, Mr Balala said. The full year’s earnings is expected to hit 1.1 billion dollars, buoyed by the pending commissioning of new airlines into Kenya. South Sudan minister has been in the country on a fact finding mission aimed at ensuring cooperation between the two countries on tourism. Speaking on Friday, Chang noted the huge potential in tourism of southern Sudan, saying the country was rich in numerous attractions such as wildlife and cultural attractions.
Ms Gwiyo said it was important to amalgamate all laws that previously governed the sector to ensure smooth running of the industry. But Ms Gwiyo noted that the Ministry of Tourism has been in the process of classifying hotels, an exercise aimed at ensuring high standards for tourists’ hotels. She indicated that 68 hotels have been classified in the exercise which is still ongoing. The ministry is targeting to classify an additional 90 hotels by the end of the financial year.
Classification she observed will benefit the industry through improved service delivery, satisfied clientele and improved revenue. She told the minister that Kenya’s tourism ministry was working hard towards the realization of this important goal, she cited development of resort cities in various parts of the country as one of the projects that the ministry is working on alongside other projects geared towards enhancement of tourism arrivals.
“Hotels, housing facilities, state of the art sporting facilities, airstrips and good road network are just part of the infrastructure that the resort cities will require thus making them attractive to investors,” she said. The resort cities are expected top attract tourists to the various sites. The proposed sites include Diani, Kilifi, Isiolo, Lamu and Turkana. Other measures that are also being put in place include developing and improving tourism attractions in other small areas, a move, aimed at enhancing tourism facilities in other regions of the country. (Xinhua)
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