Meeting to chart route for tourism marketing

Investors in tourism in Kenya and around the region meet in Mombasa from next week to create a joint marketing platform.

The East Africa Tourism Development Forum at the Sarova Whitesands, will be used to explore ways of unlocking the region's tourism potential.

It will be held under the auspices of the United Nations World Tourism Organisation.

It will be chaired by the organisation's secretary-general, Dr Taleb Rifai, and will host discussions on intra-Africa opportunities while strengthening regional cooperation.

Over 250 participants expected to attend will come from 10 countries including Ministers from Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Seychelles and the secretary-general of the East African Community.

The meeting's theme is "Connecting Opportunity" and will seek ways of enhancing the visibility of the East African market in the highly competitive global tourism.

Kenya's tourism Cabinet Secretary Phyllis Kandie said the forum will provide an important opportunity to market the region as a single destination.

"The idea is to showcase East Africa to a wider global audience. One of the key issues on the table is how to build the image of the region as a tourism destination," Mrs Kandie said.

Kenya seeks to lure tourists back to the coastal town of Mombasa that has experienced a slump blamed on attacks from the Somali militant group Al Shabaab.

In September last year, the UK relaxed a travel advisory to Nairobi apart from Eastleigh, but maintained a warning for Mombasa and towns bordering Somalia.

Britain, the source of more than half the country's tourists, lifted a travel advisory covering most of the Coast in June, setting the stage for recovery.

Kenya is also riding on the successful visit of United States President Barack Obama with over 3,000 investors during the Global Entrepreneurship Summit to keep the tempo up.

The United Nations World Tourism Organisation has been pushing for countries to form regional tourism clusters. Such groupings, it is argued, would provide an effective marketing platform beyond individual country destinations.

The Thursday meeting will come in the wake of another major tourism conference to be held in Accra, Ghana next week, seeking to create synergies among African countries in promoting a common continental brand.

Source: Meeting to chart route for tourism marketing