More tourist for East Africa as Single Visa policy takes effect

The East African Tourism players have pledged to support and continue marketing the region as a single tourist destination with a view of reaping maximum economic value from the initiative.

Speaking at a forum put together by the East African Tourism platform (EATP) on the side-lines of the recently concluded Kwita- Izina gorilla naming ceremony in Kigali, the players committed to targeting to tap into at least 10 percent of the 140 million population in the region.

Bonita Mutoni, the Managing Director of a Rwandan tour operator says the introduction of the Single Tourist Visa has increased her tourist client numbers by threefold, barely two years since it was introduced.

“The growth has been huge given the short period of time. The Single Tourist Visa and National ID use has made it easier for tourists and traders to travel around the three countries encouraging more of them to come,” she noted.

EATP, which comprises of private sector tourism umbrella bodies of the East African Community countries and tour operators, had its members convene at a Kigali Hotel in a networking session where they discussed opportunities and challenges in the region’s tourism sector.

“We are moving into packaging our region as one destination, celebrating flagship tourism events and finding solutions to challenges together, which wasn’t happening before,” said  Carmen Nibigira, the EATP Regional Coordinator.

The meeting came on the back of celebrating over a year of the operationalization of the Single Tourist Visa that has allowed easier travel and trade between the three member countries Kenya, Uganda and Rwanda.

With the Visa, foreigners can visit attractions in Kenya, Uganda, and Rwanda on paying a fee of USD100 (Ksh 10,500).

“The idea here is to sell the region as a one destination with three unique attractions that any visitor to the East African region can enjoy,” Ms Nibigira explained.

An estimated 4,000 Single Tourist Visas have been issued since the launch of the same in February 2014. This represents a month on month improvement from an average of the 156 Visas sold in the 10 months to December last year, to 305 this year.

Kenya Tourism Federation Acting CEO Susan Ongalo reported an increased interest by members of the private sector umbrella body to participate in these regional forums with a view of partnering and working with other players in member countries to develop unique East African Products.

“I came along with a delegation of 12 Kenyan tourism private sector players and County Ministers for tourism who were keen to travel using their National Identification cards in order to better understand the process while cross selling products within the region,” Ms Ongalo said.

The Three countries have picked Flagship products to cross sell within the region. Kenya will host the Magical Kenya Expo, Rwanda Kwita Izina and Uganda, Martyrs Day.

“For us as stakeholders in Kenya, the most important thing is that we are now taking this step. We started with Magical Kenya in October as an anchor flagship program to market the three destinations and we have so far got quite a lot of interest from Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi as well as a bit of interest from Tanzania,” said Mike Macharia CEO of Kenya Association of Hotel Keepers and a Board Member of the Kenya Tourism Federation

Mr Macharia revealed that processes are already underway within the joint marketing initiative to streamline hotel classification within the East Africa region with a view of harmonising the product by 2016.

“This is necessary so that if a visitor stays in a 5 star hotel in Kenya, the standards are the same as a hotel in Kigali or Uganda and otherwise,” he explained

Macharia observed that though there have been questions raised as to when Burundi and Tanzania were coming in; there was a contingent from Burundi attending the Kwita Izina events, showing the region’s commitment in integrating their tourism sectors.

“The whole idea is to enhance tourism for the countries and not just promote three countries and leave out the rest. Hopefully we can move into Southern Sudan and Ethiopia at some point,” he noted.

Ms Nibigira reiterated EATP’s commitment to seeing a vibrant and diverse single tourist destination that provides exceptional experiences to domestic, regional and international tourists.

The networking session served as a beginning of a series of events EATP will be holding across the region to encourage the tourism private sector to look at the EAC as a growing tourism market and a destination with multiple products and service offerings.

Some of the noted progress made so far in the region include the introduction of the East African Single Tourist Visa and the use of national identification cards (IDs) for travelling within the three countries; Kenya, Uganda and Rwanda.

By EATP