The French Ambassador to Kenya, Mr Remi Marechaux, last month warned that his country would continue to issue travel advisories when required and would not rely on local security assurances.
France, he said, would carry out its own assessment of the security situation and act accordingly.   This is the new reality that tourism industry players and the Government will have to grapple with, as they come to terms with the dwindling number of visitors. Tourism industry players have to accept that  global terrorism has changed the rules of the game. It is  no longer tenable to predicate the development of a region on an industry whose success is determined by events in countries such as Somalia. As much as Tourism Cabinet Secretary Najib Balala and his team are working overnight to bring back the industry to its former glory, the country must come to grips with the fact that it would take very little to send all their hard-won gains up in smoke. Kenya’s tourism industry appears to suffer greater damage than other countries  every time terrorists strike. It is as though tourists from the West seize on such attacks to cancel their bookings. In this light, the introduction of new tourist packages, though welcome, may not come soon enough. The new products would may be enough to attract visitors in the wake of continued travel advisories that have almost become an industry staple. This means governors of counties in the former Coast Province would be well advised to pool their own resources—human and financial—and engage with the national government about their efforts to get their people out of the rut they find themselves in. It is incomprehensible that the Coast region and the country is suffering from a shortage of fish given the billions of shillings raked in by multinational fishing fleets that often encroach the Kenyan waters.
Feed the region Surely, logic dictates that the counties of Mombasa, Kilifi, Kwale and Lamu should team up and put a bankable proposal on the table that would ensure the region produces enough fish for the entire  region. The importation of fish from China underlines the failure of both the county and national leadership to seize the opportunities that exist.
There is also no excuse for the Coast to continue importing vegetables and fruits from   neighbouring countries when it has ideal soils and a suitable climate. Instead, the region should dust off its agricultural plans and come up with crops that will feed the region. Kenya’s continued importation of massive amounts of palm oil to manufacture cooking fat is a clear indication of the road these counties can travel in their quest to grow local industries. Significantly, this development model would put money into the pockets of ordinary people as they would be the entrepreneurs and not simply workers waiting for a pitiable salary at the end of the month. The local leadership should engage the national government on what appears to be stalled plans to turn Mombasa port into a free economic zone. A casual look at Dubai demonstrates just how fast Mombasa’s economy could grow were it to adopt this model. At first, Mombasa need not be a manufacturing hub. It can, like Dubai, simply be a centre for importing goods from around the world in accordance with demand. A journey through Dubai—which does not have its own oil reserves   but has  petrodollars  — demonstrates  that with more creativity, growth is possible. To transform the economies of these counties we would need to retain  Kenya Airways as the national airline   to bring in the required number of traders from the rest of Africa, South of the Sahara. It is worth noting that the airline already carries many of these passengers to and from Dubai in competition with Middle East-based airlines.
Source: Standard Digital

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of TradeMark Africa.