Bringing together East Africa in Tourism

Nairobi. The Kenya Tourism Board, under its product Magical Kenya Travel Expo (MKTE), has put together its first in-person travel and tourism expo post-pandemic and currently boasts an impressive attendance of tourism players from all over the globe.

The event has brought together potential buyers from as far across as Europe, the Americas and Asia as well as exhibitors, media and other service providers from east and southern Africa.

Countries and exhibitors present include Tanzania, Zambia, South Africa, Uganda and Rwanda while service providers such as Qatar Airlines, Costal Aviation from Tanzania, Air Tanzania Company Limited (ATCL), the Uganda Tourism Board and the Tanzania Tourist Board (TTB).

“This being the first in-person exhibition since the Covid-19 outbreak, every aspect of this exhibition is very important as it helps reset tourism in Kenya and East Africa,” said Dr Betty Radier during the opening night of MKTE dubbed ‘A night of magic’ which was held yesterday at the Bomas of Kenya.

As the exhibitions kicked off today, the Cabinet Secretary for Tourism in Kenya, Mr Najib Balala spoke to journalists who came to the country from countries as far as India and France and others from Tanzania, South Africa, Rwanda and Uganda.

Mr Balala emphasised on the importance of efforts in fostering inter-connectivity across East Africa and the wider Africa in general.

“An improved air connectivity, in terms of cheaper rates, for starters goes a long way in boosting international tourism in the region. Likewise, trans boundary connectivity in terms of road and rail will help boost domestic tourism,” he said.

Europe benefits largely because of how well and efficient their road and rail connectivity is and makes it easier for them to travel without much of a hustle.

“Another factor to consider would be uniform and coordinated visa regiments and protocols in East Africa to make it easier for travel,” said Balala.

Turnout

“MKTE has brought with it hundreds of exhibitors and Tanzania alone has over 50 vendors present, both with TTB and independent providers,” Susan Tesha, a Conservation Officer from Tanzania National Parks explains to The Citizen.

“Our presence here is very important on account of the potential tourists and buyers we get to meet,” she adds.

Naomi Mbilinyi, Senior Tourism Officer at TTB further explains that: “Events such as MKTE and the upcoming Swahili International Tourism Expo are continuously bringing in better tourism opportunities and just like the Kenya Tourism Board (KTB) did, we also expect to have media fam trips to give an even better experience of Tanzania.”

The task for each exhibitor being to sell to the very best of their ability, each company has had an opportunity to sit down in one-on-one interviews with interested buyers and according to the Country Manager for ATCL Kenya, Judes Mjungu, this platform is loaded with opportunity.

“While TTB sells the experience of Tanzania and hotels sell accommodation, we make sure to sell transport and cargo in a way that is appealing to individuals and parties interested in visiting Tanzania,” she says.

While emphasis on promotion of tourism is on everyone’s mind during this expo, Najib Balala also emphasised on the importance the role of governmental facilitation plays on growing and sustaining the culture.

“As policy makers, our role is to create friendly and enabling environments for investors across the region that will come in to aid in developing the sector. A good example of this would be a duty free incentive for a tourism accommodation investor on their furnishing of the destination,” he said.

“While each country has its own individual goals for developing their tourism sectors, we would benefit more if we start considering ourselves as partners interdependent on one another rather than competitors,” said Balala.