You have just been recently appointed chairman of the Kenya Tourist Board. What are your immediate plans?
First the different roles of the players - the Ministry of Tourism, KTB, etc. besides the different associations such as KATO, Hotel Keepers Association, etc. that fall under the Kenya Tourist Federation - have to be defined to avoid the current confusion and duplication of efforts.
The first thing I would like to do to is synchronize all these efforts under one roof. I believe that without doing this what we're doing is treading on each other's toes. People feel that the Ministry of Tourism has jumped in and taken over our role and our responsibilities, etc.resulting in no real cooperation and synchronization of efforts. That is one of the first things that I would like to conquer.
The first priority is the need to have one unified marketing policy and all the other bodies working through, participating and supporting one initiative as opposed to many different initiatives and many different bodies. Without doubt that is one of the main things that I have been concentrating largely on over the last two weeks - trying to meet with various associations, trying to explain to them that unless we pull together it's really not going to have the required impact.
My second priority has two key priorities - maintaining, servicing and protecting existing market and then expansion. That is, in as much as Kenya has a lot to offer, our existing industry has gone through quite a slump and we cannot focus on new fronts, new marketing initiatives, or look at different areas, before bringing back what we already have on board. Take the Coast, for example, we need to first of all to address the issues that have resulted in the slump there , if it is the Safari circuit, as we call it, we need to look at the critical issues that really affect these areas and deal with the business that we already have and try and strengthen and improve that before we look for new relationships. You have to protect what you already have and create a comfortable base, and from there you can expand. I do not believe that the primary objective is to be out there looking for new markets if you are already loosing out on what you already have. .
You are the son of the late President Jomo Kenyatta, a statesman with an excellent international reputation. Do you think your family name will help to increase the reputation of the Kenya Tourist Board?
I can acknowledge that probably my family name has some impact. It would be ridiculous to say that the family name has no impact whatsoever. At the same time I think it is important to also acknowledge that, as a family business and personal capacity, I have been involved in the tourism industry for the last ten years through our own company which is called Prestige Hotels and which we are about to re-launch as Heritage Hotels. We have had interests in the field for a very long time and I personally have also been involved in it for a very long time. Consequently I believe that the experience that I have gained through that process as well as the fact that I do have the name can only be a bonus as opposed to looking at it from the point of view that that's the only reason.
As an individual, I believe that I have a lot to offer, especially given the fact that I am approaching it from a different perspective, a younger outlook, quite well in tune with the industry and with the players in the industry because of my life in Prestige. At the same time I believe I have close enough connections with the government to be able to bridge the gap. That, I believe, is the missing link. The name will help, but there is a basis.
Lately there has been negative publicity on Kenya such as the 1998 bombing of the US embassy in Nairobi, the Okalan affair, and even the killing of tourists in neighboring Uganda, which resulted in a drop of tourism in Kenya. What are you planning to do to change this international negative image?
We have to go back in history to understand this better. You've got a country, Kenya, and a country that for very many years was sort of a little island in a sea of conflicts and problems with its neighbours within Sub-Saharan Africa. I can say with conviction that Kenya was about the only country that you could really visit as a tourist, as a holiday destination and as a business center. As a result, Kenya as a country did not have to do very much to sell itself because it was basically the only choice.
Now, what has happened is the result of slackness on our part, our failure to actually stay ahead with the times because of taking this for granted. Some years back with very little effort, you got the business. What has happened is that the situation in South Africa has changed, there are also places like Tanzania, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Uganda, etc, that have turned around and now there is increased competition for pretty much the same market that Kenya has. There are also other long-haul destinations, not necessarily in Africa, that 10-15 years ago were really nothing but today are major players for the same long-haul market that Kenya was attracting.
With all those things taken into account, as a country, we have not kept pace. We sort of lagged behind and there is indeed necessity for us to take a more pro-active approach as opposed to the laid-back approach of "it will come". That's part of the learning that we are going through. We now have to start portraying Kenya not necessarily as the only place, but as one of many and to give you a reason to come to Kenya as opposed to all the other options that you now have.
With that approach, you can see why people have not been off the mark, jumping to respond to these things because we have not had that exposure. We have not in the past had that need. It's now coming out and I think what we are now talking about is a more pro-active PR approach, going out there and shouting that 'yes, we have had all these negatives, but behind these negatives, this is what we have to offer'.
A case in point I would like to use is Egypt. Egypt has just gone through a terrible problem vis-a-vis the tourist situation. We have never had an attack on our tourist sector as bad as they have had. In their campaign, they went out there and really tried to down play that whole situation which is what Kenya now needs to do. That is where we come in bringing this new approach to restart and to acknowledge that we are no longer the only place that you can go to and that people have options, and with options, you have to go out there and shout your name louder than your competitor, a fact we have to come to grips with. |
How are you practically planning on doing it? Are you planning on launching international campaigns or are you planning on attracting a lot of travel journalists to come here or a combination of both?
A combination of both. On the one hand, you have the local journalists who have not understood what tourism is all about as they have not been well exposed. They more or less focus on the political and social aspect in their reporting and I think that the same also applies to the foreign correspondents, especially in the transition between the single-party and multi-party era ignoring a lot of what has made Kenya what it is. There is therefore a need to approach local and international journalists who are based here in Kenya and to expose them to what this country has to offer which much more than what we read in our current headlines that cover only part of Kenya. There is a lot more that needs exposure and unless you expose these people to it, they cannot be expected to start writing positively and be able to show the other side of the coin. Likewise with international journalist. Let's attract them in, let us show them the other side, because there is another side. That is one approach we plan to use.
The second approach might be to try and re-launch a really proper PR campaign like Jamaica, Cuba, etc., look into what others have done and try and follow what has been in that sphere. This will take a little time because I would not want to do anything without first of all getting the industry and everybody else pull together.
We need to have a theme on what is it that we want to say about our country. Once we have decided on the theme then we need to agree to say it in one voice by first getting our house in order to avoid KTB saying one thing, the Ministry of Tourism another and KTF a totally different thing before we are able to go out there with a bang. That is why I would like that stage to come after we have pulled our own resources and our own process together before we start working slowly on the journalists, bringing them in and showing them what we have to offer, then stage the campaign when we are all at one level.
This is not to say that I know everything about Kenya or that what I think needs to be done is about the only thing that should be done. I need to consult and pick the brains of everybody and agree to pull all these resources together and go out as one voice.
What role is the KTB going to play as opposed to the Ministry of Tourism?
There is no clash in their roles.. On the one hand, going back in history, the Ministry of Tourism was the body responsible for wildlife management, marketing approach, hotel training school and related aspects. KTDC (Kenya Tourist Development Corporation) was responsible for the development of tourist facilities. There is a need now to break this apart as at the end of the day we are talking of a smaller government passing on more aspects to the private sector. There still exists a role of policy, and the government policy cannot be run by the chairman of KTB which is a private organization. There has to be a body that puts together a tourist policy relying on advice from the industry, marketing bodies, etc.
Eventually, what will end up happening is that we will put our act together. KTB will strengthen and become a marketing body and probably an advisory body to the government regarding standards etc. We will still need a policy making and giving body which has to be government, and I think that holds true for any country. This does not appear conflicting to me. We just need to go through the pains of understanding whose role is what.
So, under your vision and through the experience that you have gathered, KTB will be more promotional?
We will probably become the promotional arm, recommending tourism standards, making recommendations on new areas to be opened, etc. You still need a policy-making body, someone who has the authority to ensure that standards are met and that person must have the authority of the government A private organization cannot have that role.
Is there anything that you feel you would like to add for our readers?
One of the key things I feel is that the world has always looked at Africa as one vast continent. The one thing I always remember, especially from college, is that when you speak to the local people, e.g. a town like Amherst, Massachusetts, you get to know them and ask them where is Kenya? They will say "it's in Africa" without knowing the difference between North and East Africa.
I think it is about time that the world starts to change that perspective. For instance, if there is a war going on in Kenya and Eritrea, people automatically think that it is unsafe to go to Kenya. There is a need to expose our countries for their individual selves because we all have our strengths and weaknesses and I believe there will come a time when we will all be able to work closer together.
I think it is also necessary to be able to understand that it is not just one huge amorphous continent, it is full of individualities and there are certain characteristics that are different in different places. I think that that message needs to be communicated. It is not just a place where you can go and see wildlife and visit beaches because that is another area that I would like to concentrate on.
Yes, we have problems with our infrastructure, but in the process of slowly trying to resolve those, it has to be recognized that Kenya is an excellent communication base, conference base, and an excellent base to launch regional business. At the end of the day we are talking about a market of over 70-80 million people in the region and I do not think, no matter what they say about Uganda, that anybody can really capture Kenya's ability to become a center of business for the region. These points must come out. There is a lot more to us, not just rhinos and elephants and beaches. How many people know, for instance, that Kenya is just an hour's flight from Kenya and that in no time you can be in the middle of the Queen of Sheba's Kingdom?
There are so many possibilities that really lie unexploited. These are the messages that must reach the people. |
