DESTINATION MARKETING
THE TIDE FAVORS
AGGRESSIVE
DOMESTIC TOURISM
FOR KENYA
By Ben Asoro
L
ooking at my class 8 test papers,
the common question with
constant answer was ‘What is
Kenya’s biggest foreign exchange
earner?’ And the answer was so obvious
that I didn’t even have to read the other
multiple choices – All I had to do
was to look for the multiple choice of
‘Tourism’ and shade that answer.
Unfortunately, the industry dynamics
changed so much so that my daughter,
sitting class 8 exams this year, would
laugh at how stupid her dad was back
them to have chosen ‘Tourism’ as the
answer! I guess she would also not have
kind words for my teacher who placed
a big tick with his red kilometric pen
on my answer sheet for that question.
I wouldn’t blame her because Tourism
was seen as a foreign exchange earner.
Our parents who were earning in
Kenya Shillings were therefore
excluded from this targeted clientele to
earn forex to the hotels. Consequently,
domestic tourism wasn’t even in the
marketing plans.
Tourism marketing bodies were
all targeting the ‘Mzungu’ with the
dollar. I guess this is the genesis of
the expression ‘Hoteli ya wazungu’
since they were the targeted clientele
who could earn Kenya the foreign
currencies.
On the other hand, the working
class of those days understood being
‘‘ The working class of those days understood
being on holiday to be synonymous with
travelling upcountry, with the family, for
the entire 21 days of annual leave period –
and getting the local chief to sign a form to
confirm that he was actually upcou ntry and is
therefore entitled to get leave allowance!!’’
38 MAL 13/16 ISSUE
on holiday to be synonymous with
travelling upcountry, with the family,
for the entire 21 days of annual leave
period – and getting the local chief
to sign a form to confirm that he was
actually upcountry and is therefore
entitled to get leave allowance!!
This mentality, unfortunately,
cemented the line of thought that
tourism was meant for the foreign
traveler. Nevertheless, the market
conditions have changed rapidly in
Kenya that the potential of the locals
in boosting tourism statistics, revenues
and numbers cannot be ignored any
further.
This trend is global too as witnessed
by the increased attention domestic
tourism seems to be attracting even
in other markets. The not so recently
adopted definition of ‘domestic tourism
by such international tourism bodies
like The World Tourism Organization
(UNWTO), by default places this form
of tourism where it should belong.
UNWTO defines a domestic tourist
as ‘… any person residing in a country
who travels to a place within the
country, outside his or her usual