Brighter 2010 for Kenyan Tourism

The tourism industry stakeholders are optimistic that 2010 may be the best year for the business and Kenyan airlines are gearing up for the challenge.

 In 2007, Kenya recorded some 1.8 million visitors bringing in nearly $1 billion from the tourism industry, but political events in the country which were aggravated by the emerging global financial and economic crisis, led to a slump in tourist arrivals in 2008.

In 2009, with support from Kenya Airways, the Kenya Tourist Board made efforts to rejuvenate the industry by involving 250 travel agents, tour operators, and media representatives to improve the image of the country as a tourist destination.

The results paid off and the industry went close to hitting the 2007 figures. The more conservative sections of the industry still believe that by 2012 the two million visitor threshold will be crossed, while the more optimistic operators hope that this can be achieved in 2011.

With the world economy coming out of recession now almost everywhere, it is thought that realistic to see a new arrival record established in 2010, although the revenue growth may lag behind for a while as the market still depends on a range of special offers to match the marketing and sales efforts of other long-haul destinations.

This in particular applies for beach holidays, while the safari sector - offering a generally unique product with little competition beyond the Eastern African region - might see a return to the per capita revenues from before the crisis.

A joint marketing effort is underway through the East African Community, aimed to promote the five East African countries as one destination with many attractions, may also help the effort, but pending side issues like a common tourist visa permitting the entry to all of the EAC member states must first be resolved before this initiative can truly bear fruit.

Single EAC Currency still has a long way

The East African countries are now taking steps towards integrating the financial sector but have still got reforms to make.

Once single integration is completed, EAC will be the second largest single market in Africa boasting of over 120 million consumers. This market will also require having the EAC interbank and credit markets, the money markets, the equity market, the foreign exchange market, the bond market and the derivatives market.
This means that the East African Countries would have their domestic financial markets but then also have the international financial markets.

"The market in East Africa is one that financial markets will thrive on in order to have a free flowing integrated financial sector," says Paddy Turyamwijuka, the Deputy Director Financial Markets at Bank of Uganda.

He was addressing accountants at the 15th Institute of certified Public Accountants (ICPAU) annual seminar in Entebbe, near Kampala. Taryamwijuka also adds that the EAC has supportive protocols that work and are aimed towards the establishment of financial markets integration.

The Monetary Union Protocol which would lead to one EAC currency and the establishment of East African Central Bank (EACB) is expected to promote the final integration of East Africa.

A single currency would ease travel of citizens and goods, eliminating exchange rate problems, providing price transparency, creating a single financial market, price stability and low interest rates, and providing a currency used internationally and protected against shocks by the large amount of internal trade within the east Africa.

Currently the Monetary Affairs Committee (MAC) of EAC has been established and is mandated to provide the oversight and execute the matters related to financial markets. However for this to yield results the various EAC countries must be able to harmonise their financial sectors.

"Reforms will be required of them in the financial markets sector so that atleast they are at the same level or playing field," Turyamwijuka adds.

"Rwanda has made most reforms more than any other already existing member state of the EAC and the World Bank has ranked the country high in the financial markets reforms," he adds.

Rwanda however is also yet to have a fully operation Securities Exchange as companies still trade over the counter.

Kenya which is the home of the largest economy in the EAC and the largest and most active stock exchange, is ahead in terms of financial markets reform compared to the rest of the countries in the region. It also has a vibrant financial sector.

"Tanzania is not a fully liberalised economy and its financial sector in particular still has some impediments to foreign investors and other monetary activities," he adds.

EA passport to enable travel around the globe

The East African passport is to be upgraded to international standards and will allow citizens to travel around the world.

The new EAC passport complies with the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) document 9303 standards. Personal details of the applicant will now be legible through a computer from the “machine readable zone.”

The holder’s fingerprints, signature and photograph will be acquired digitally and stored in a database. The old model of the passport introduced nearly a decade ago by Tanzania, Uganda and Kenya has the holder’s data type written or hand written on it. It was meant to ease border crossing.

But the document has not been as popular as the traditional passports issued by the Immigration departments in the respective states. It ended up being used mainly by ordinary people such as traders and students travelling across the region, with government officials and business people shunning it.

Juma Mwapachu, the East African Community secretary general said though the traditional passports had been accepted internally, they were not used internationally.

“This is why we want to upgrade the EA passports so it can allow electronic screening,” Mr Mwapachu said.

When they were first issued, the EA passports were valid only in EAC member states but were to be upgraded into international passports starting this year. They would eventually replace the national passports.

However, this proposal is unlikely to materialise in the near future as a lot of groundwork has to be done, including phasing out the national passports of individual states and printing new passports with security marks.

Unlike the EA passports which one has to pay $10 to acquire and is valid five years, national passports of the three partner states are valid for 10 years.

Meanwhile, the issuance of the old passport has been suspended indefinitely to allow for the upgrading work to be completed.

10 year Rwanda Tourism Plan Approved

The Sustainable Tourism Development Master Plan for Rwanda approved by a cabinet meeting recently, assesses the current tourism industry and proposes the industry's strategic growth direction in the next decade.

The 182-page document developed in collaboration with the government of Rwanda, the private sector and the United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) identifies Kigali, the capital of Rwanda as the main tourism hub and other six Destination Management Areas (DMAs) across the country.

The DMAs include Volcanoes Area (north), Akagera Area (east) Muhazi Area (east), Kibuye Area (west), Nyungwe Area (west) and Gisenyi in the western part of Rwanda.

"DMAs are designed to revitalise economies of tourism areas, contribute to the protection and development of conservation and heritage sites where market development pressures are being felt, and where a balance between sustaining the local economy and protecting the environment needs to be reached,"

The master plan identifies hurdles to the development of the Rwandan tourism industry and proposes solutions to them. Some of the hurdles include lack of facilities and services, product gaps, insufficient marketing, in adequate marketing of the sector and skills deficiencies.

The plan notes some hurdles like limited flights to Rwanda, Rwanda's invisibility in the international market place, and limited product offer are fundamental.

"Rwanda offers the international tourism market a very limited product offer in terms of variety, quantity and quality. Rwanda's current product offer is effectively limited to the Gorilla," reads the plan.

"Compounding this, the country's nature resources are in a 'raw state' - lacking supporting infrastructure for the most part, inadequately packaged, and where available very basic."

It proposes that Community Based Tourism, Conferences and Meetings and cultural tourism are among Rwanda's potential attractions that need attention.

The plan earmarks products like birding, water tourism and the national parks as outstanding for the country's tourism industry. The plan notes that Rwanda lacks tourist legislation to regulate the industry and protect the tourists. It also says that implementation of the planning legislation is weak and this can undermine investment and the future of the country's cultural heritage.