The County Government of Nakuru has enhanced its support for various initiatives aimed at marketing diverse tourism products, including mountaineering, cuisine, horticulture, and lake tourism, to attract more tourists.
The County Executive for Trade, Tourism, and Cooperatives, Stephen Kuria, has said though Kenya continues to be a popular destination, stakeholders must put more focus on other products to boost the sector.
Kuria said popular tourism destinations, including the Mai Mahiu Catholic Church, the smallest church in Kenya built by Italian prisoners of War in 1942; the Lake Nakuru National Park; Utamaduni Nature Park; Hyrax Hill Museum; the Kariandusi Prehistoric site; the Lord Egerton Castle; and various venues for Meetings, Incentives, Conferences and Exhibitions (MICE), among others, are renowned worldwide.
Speaking when the County Government, in collaboration with NaxCity Kenya and various stakeholders, launched the “Tembea Nakuru” campaign to promote Nakuru as a premier tourism and investment destination, Kuria stated that although wildlife safaris still remained attractive destinations, Governor Susan Kihika’s administration was partnering with state agencies and the private sector in aggressively marketing alternative core tourism products that the county could offer from its diverse niches.
These tourism products include culture, cuisine, entertainment, sports, nature (beach and safari), and Meetings, Incentives, Exhibitions and Conferences (MICE) tourism.
“We have been winning in both world travel and destination awards due to our popular destinations. We look forward to a very good year in the sector. Kenya is renowned for beaches and safaris, which are our main signature products. But we need to diversify and present to the world other products such as mountaineering, lakes, horticulture, agriculture (tea and coffee), Nyama Choma, culture, and heritage,” indicated the county executive.
The campaign is also covering all destinations in the county that offer rock climbing, bird watching, golf tourism, adventure sports, leisure tourism, and wildlife tourism.
The county executive explained that the initiative focuses on showcasing over 30 lesser-known tourism sites within the county, leveraging media platforms to market Nakuru during the Christmas and New Year festive season.
He emphasised the campaign’s role in giving Nakuru a competitive edge in tourism, urging stakeholders to seize the December holiday season for marketing efforts.
“We are working with industry players such as hoteliers, tour companies, and guides in drawing attraction to the hidden gems that Kenya has in store,” added Kuria.
The CECM advised sector players to embrace local communities in diversifying their products in order to attract younger visitors who are no longer interested in traditional offerings of tourism and wildlife.
He noted that the sector’s landscape had significantly shifted and that there was no need for tourism players to continue marketing their products using the same old system.
“It is worth noting that millennials are no longer interested in travelling to Lake Nakuru for four hours or staying in hotels. What they are keen on is spending time embracing cultural practices of places and people they visit,” stated the CECM.
Kuria noted that reliance on traditional tourism products has not only put a strain on the facilities and capacity but has also left the tourism industry largely dependent on a few attractions.
“We have also been looking to grow a domestic tourism campaign to get the residents excited about the various destinations that Nakuru has to offer. There are many Kenyans who are interested in travel but lack sufficient information,” he continued.
County Tourism and Culture Chief Officer John Koech highlighted Nakuru’s unique features, including being the only city with both a lake and a national park, six lakes, and several prehistoric sites.
Koech pointed out that domestic tourism in Kenya is a field that the industry players ought to tap into more to increase revenue, as it holds huge potential, and its importance for economic development cannot be underestimated.
“Many Kenyans prefer to travel to international destinations over local destinations, while some do not travel at all. This is while keeping in mind that every time we travel and buy outside the country, we are inadvertently taking away the economic growth we could be retaining in our country,” he observed.
He said the county administration was encouraging the private sector and local communities to develop “out of park” tourism activities such as mountain biking. The initiative he stated is also encouraging visits to cultural and spiritual sites, cultural performances, and community walks.
Koech challenged Kenyans to drop the notion that tourism is only a preserve for the wealthy or those with disposable income.
He called on the tourism sector to also come up with reasonable packages affordable by most Kenyans.
“We have for a long time relied too much on foreigners to build our tourism. It is now our time as locals to spur the growth of our domestic tourism to the next level by playing a major part in that growth,” he added.
The Chief Officer noted that tourism and hospitality marketing agencies at both the county and national levels have over the years focused too much on wildlife and beach products, neglecting cultural attractions and conference facilities, which have traditionally relied on fragmented promotions by the proprietors.
This, he said, was happening against the background that there were various other undiscovered tourist destinations around the country.
Other stakeholders in the campaign are the Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS), Kenya Association of Travel Agents (KATA), and various local organisations who aim to use the platform for capacity building, community involvement, and promoting Nakuru’s tourism potential.
NaxCity Kenya Limited Executive Director Catherine Kanyi pledged to address gaps in the county’s tourism landscape through the campaign, adding that enhancing equal distribution of resources to all sectors and regions would open up more destinations that would inversely arouse interest among locals.
“We cannot emphasise the role of synergies and partnerships enough as we work towards restarting tourism. We must continue to take advantage of the new opportunities in travel and also look out for the emerging trends,” said Kanyi.
She stated that industry players needed to tap into conference tourism, a relatively new concept in the industry, which revolves around service provision to business travellers attending seminars, workshops, conferences, and conventions.
“At the moment, conference tourism is the largest and fastest-growing segment of the modern tourism sector. It has a higher financial impact because conference travellers spend more than leisure ravelers. Often their expenses are paid by the organisations they represent, leaving the tourists with substantial disposable incomes that they can spend,” she noted.
Sarova Hotels Nakuru’s General Manager Duncan Mwangi noted that the “Tembea Nakuru” campaign would create significant opportunities for collaboration in the hospitality and tourism sectors.
Mwangi said that it is important to realise that for tourism to succeed, a greater part depends on the goodwill of the locals more than the other industries.
“The locals must be happy with the visitors and the security knowledge that the presence of the visitors around will not affect their operations both socially, economically, and even politically, and that they will not impose values that are not welcomed in their society.
This can easily be achieved when the locals are engaged by involving them in dialogues relating to the influence of tourism in that particular area,” noted the General Manager.
By Jane Ngugi