Tourism players in East Africa have pledged to support marketing of the region as a single tourist destination with a view of reaping maximum economic value from the initiative. The players say they are targeting to tap into at least 10 percent of the 140 million population in the region. An estimated 4,000 Single Tourist Visas have been issued since the launch of the Single Tourist Visa initiative in February last year. 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. With the Visa, foreigners can visit tourist attractions in Kenya, Uganda and Rwanda on paying a fee of 100 dollars. East African Tourism platform Regional Coordinator Carmen Nibigira says there was need to package the region as one destination, celebrate flagship tourism events and find solutions to individual challenges together. Members also called for the speedy hotel classification within the East Africa region with a view of harmonising the product by next year noting that this would go a long way in ensuring services and products were of same quality across board. The three countries chose flagship products to be cross sold within the region with Kenya hosting the Magical Kenya Expo, Rwanda the Kwita Izina and Uganda, Martyrs Day. The operationalization of the single tourist visa and use of the national identity cards to travel across East African Community member states has increased trade and tourism activities due to the...

MEDELLIN - Kenya has been elected to the highest decision making body of the United Nation World Tourism Organization’s (UNWTO) Executive Council.  Kenyan officials say the announcement was confirmed at the 21st UNWTO General Assembly, which is being held in Medellin, Colombia. Cabinet Secretary for East Africa, Commerce and Tourism, Phyllis Kandie, said:  “We are privileged to be accorded the opportunity to represent Kenya, East Africa and the African continent on the council. The East African Community (EAC) is one of the fastest growing regional economic blocks and is also endowed with some of the most remarkable tourist attractions to be found anywhere in the world.”
 
Kenya, Uganda and Rwanda recently introduced a single visa solution that reduces the cost of visiting to $100 and allows multiple entries.  Source: Enca.com

What, in your opinion, is the relevance of regional integration? Across the world different regional integration blocs have come up on the basis of different issues. But for our case (East Africa) we are looking at creating a competitive ground for all countries, especially small ones as well as allowing comparative advantage to strengthen a particular country's production capacity. Has Uganda realised any benefits from the integration? Yes! Certainly there have been benefits, especially in the area of trade. For instance, in the last 10 years Uganda has seen its trade across the region increase both in terms of volumes and quality. Trade volumes and investments by Ugandans in countries like Rwanda and Kenya have increased partly because of free movement of goods, labour and capital. How does Uganda's regional exports and imports balance sheet weigh? Of course it is an unbalanced equation. We have a lot of imports coming in and fewer exports and that is one of the challenges we are facing right now. Our exports cannot provide a buffer against currency volatility. Therefore one of our main works as Trademark East Africa is to work with government and see how we can improve our export potential. How far have you reached in regard to creati ng one-s top border posts? You have hit the nail on the head. Ours is an effort geared towards reducing the cost of trade across the region, especially on transportation of goods. We have mainly put our emphasis on improving physical access...

Importers have threatened to move to court to block the Mombasa County Government from introducing a raft of port levies. The Association of Importers of Kenya national chairman, Mr Peter Mambembe, opposed the proposed levies, terming them illegal. He argued that the port is a national asset, adding that it will be against the law for the county to impose charges on port users. "Port users are already paying taxes to the National Government. If the county introduces the proposed levies, it will amount to double taxation," he said. Mr Mambembe added that the port was deemed as an expensive facility and imposing new taxes will scare away both exporters and importers within and outside the country. Speaking to the Nation Sunday, he warned that the association would move to court to block the county from charging the levies if the Mombasa County Assembly passes the proposed Finance Bill. The Mombasa County government has proposed to introduce new levies at the port this financial year. The county has proposed the introduction of port health fees and charges as well as an export permit charge of Sh2,100 ($20 ) per tonne of cargo handled at the port and import clearance fee of Sh2,100 per tonne. Each ship docking at the port will be required to pay an inspection charge of Sh6,300 ($60) with Sh2,100 for supervision and destruction of condemned goods. The County plans to charge $60 (Sh6,300) for spraying vessels against vectors and $20 (Sh2,100) for fumigation. The Bill also...

Shippers moving good through the rapidly-growing port of Mombasa may soon have to pay steep new fees if the governor of the port’s county has his way, a move that could shift cargo to rival Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. Source: Joc.com

East Africa is emerging as a trade hub to rival sub-Saharan Africa is two heavyweight states of South Africa and Nigeria, according to analysis by Barclays published on Thursday. However the UK bank identifies five “sleeping giants” that present significant new opportunities for foreign companies; Ethiopia, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Mozambique, Tanzania and Ghana. This quintet which are “playing catch-up after significant political and economic upheaval . . . are increasingly attractive to foreign firms and international investors with an eye on long-term returns from fast-growing markets,” Barclays said in its inaugural Africa Trade Index. Matt Tuck, head of global corporate banking at Barclays, said the five were open to international trade and had rapidly growing populations that are likely to reach 325m in total by 2020, comparable to that of the US. Moreover, any repeat of the 7.3 per cent compound annual economic growth they have experienced over the past five years would lead to a significant rise in household spending. Most are relatively unreliant on commodity exports by African standards, shielding them from some of the storms currently battering emerging markets. “The core underlying fundamentals are getting better and with more stable government it does represent an opportunity for growth,” said Mr Tuck. “It’s a much more encouraging outlook than in the past.” Overall, Barclays found South Africa and Nigeria offered the best opportunities for foreign companies, in terms of unmet demand, the absence of major barriers to cross-border trade and their connectivity with other African countries. While South Africa is...

Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda will begin issuing a common electronic passport in November. The national non-biometric passports will be phased out over a two-year period ending in 2017. But Burundi has until close to the cut-off date to change over, as its current document already conforms to the new international standard for passports. Benon Mujuni, Principal Immigration Officer in Uganda, said the new EAC e-passport will be launched by the heads of state during their annual ordinary summit, after which the responsible regional authorities will start writing to different international bodies to ensure that it is a recognised travel document worldwide. “ICAO [International Civil Aviation Organisation] is one of the international bodies that we shall inform about the internationalisation of the EAC passport,” he said. ICAO is responsible for coming up with regulations and standards in immigration and movement of mail and live agricultural products across national borders. The EAC set an October 2015 deadline for states to have completed the process of procuring passport booklets and issuance systems for the passports. James Baba, Uganda’s Minister of State for Internal Affairs, said that Kampala, which has just started the procurement process of the systems and booklets, is focusing on a November deadline. Mr Baba added that it is important for the region to start issuing this document by November 24, 2015, because this is when the international community will require all countries to phase out all non-electronic passports. Only Burundi currently issues an electronic passport, while Rwanda has purchased...

Kenya has been elected to the executive council of the United Nation World Tourism Organisation,  Tourism Cabinet secretary Phyllis Kandie has said. The nomination that was confirmed at the ongoing UNWTO general assembly in the Colombia, gives the country a voice in decision making in the global tourism issues for a period of two years. “It is a big honor. East African Community is one of the fastest growing regional economic blocks in the world. It is also endowed with some of the most remarkable touristic attraction to be found anywhere in the globe,” she said. The executive council comprises of 31 members and brings together 154 countries into single global tourism organisations. UNWTO from time to time lends its support to countries facing challenges related to tourism matters, making the nomination to the council a big win for Kenya whose tourism sector has been dented by terror attacks at the coast region. Source: The Star

Kenya, Tanzania and Rwanda are funding a campaign to promote the use of the Single Tourist Visa and identity cards for regional travel.   The campaign, to be launched by the three countries’ tourism boards, targets immigration officers, travel agencies, airlines and tour operators. The uptake of the Single Tourist Visa and use of IDs for regional travel remain low, blamed on lack of awareness and poor information among travel and tourism, trade and hospitality providers. Uganda is in the process of issuing IDs; its citizens currently use voters’ cards to travel to Kenya and Rwanda. “We expect 10,000 visitors to have taken up the Single Tourist Visa offer,” said Susan Ongaro, the acting CEO of the Kenya Tourism Federation. Launched in February 2014, about 1,560 Single Tourist Visas were issued by end of that year. The Single Tourist Visa costs $100 for all three countries, instead of $50 for each. The findings of a baseline survey on the awareness of the Single Tourist Visa and IDs to facilitate travel, commissioned by KTF, revealed low levels of awareness among travellers. The June 2015 report indicates that 58.1 per cent of travellers to Kenya  had neither used nor interacted with someone who had used Single Tourist Visa; and 47 per cent of the travellers showed a lack of familiarity with the existence of the Single Tourist Visa. Immigration officials showed high levels of awareness on Single Tourist Visa use with up to 70.8 per cent having used or interacted with someone who...

Mistrust has emerged among the East African Community partner states over Tanzania’s commitment to the Economic Partnership Agreement that would give the region’s goods duty-free access to European markets. Tanzania is likely to delay the signing and ratification of the EPA document on the grounds that it was rushed through. Dar es Salaam has threatened not to sign the deal before its concerns on contentious issues are addressed. The region has until December 31 to sign the deal with the European Union or go back to the negotiating table. Initial document A source at the EAC Secretariat, who is privy to the matter, said Tanzania was forced to sign the initial document on the eve of October 14 after the EU threatened to withdraw its funding for agriculture under the European Development Fund (EDF). “At the time when Tanzania had refused to sign the initial document, discussions on when to release the EDF funds to member countries were ongoing in Italy. So Tanzania was given an option of either signing or forgoing the EDF funds. The same night they agreed to sign the EPA document,” said the official. READ: Relief for Kenyan exporters as Dar signs EPA document Of concern to Tanzania is liberalisation of imports from the EU where the EAC has committed to liberalise up to 82.6 per cent of all its imports from the EU. The area of concern is the export duties where the EAC partner states will not be allowed to impose new export taxes or increase existing ones unless they can justify special needs with regard to revenue, food...