Tourism Festival set to scale up marketing activities

The Ministry of Tourism is shifting gears by stepping up its efforts to scale up the industry through the launch of a tourism festival.

Dubbed the Kenya Tourism Festival, the week-long forum is aimed at showcasing Kenya’s tourism product with an aim of promoting Kenya as the top tourist destination.

Speaking during the launch of the festival, Tourism Principal Secretary Fatuma Hirsi Mohammed said the focus on the expansion of the tourism sector in the country would result in the creation of employment opportunities.

“By profiling our sector, growing our numbers and marketing Magical Kenya, these activities give us an opportunity to create jobs,” Ms Mohammed said.

Tourism Cabinet Secretary Najib Balala called for the digitization and overall transformation of the industry to keep up with the trends in tourism internationally.

“Tourism has grown despite all the challenges in 2017 but we do not want to be complacent due to our resilience. We need to change our style of doing business,” Mr Balala said.

The Ministry of Tourism has been on an aggressive marketing trail so far in 2018, as Kenya moves to position itself as the number one safari destination in the world.

The inaugural Kenya Tourism Festival is set for September 27th to the 5th of October later this year.

The week-long event will involve players and stakeholders from the industry and will include the African Hotel Investment Forum (AHIF), the Ushanga Festival and the Magical Kenya Travel Expo amongst other activities.

The Amboseli National Park will also be feted as a wildlife protected area during the festival.

The start of the Kenya Tourism Festival will coincide with the United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) international day for tourism on the 27th of September.