In a significant move, Google has decided to eliminate a route to Nyanga, one of South Africa’s most violent townships, from its navigation platform, Google Maps. This decision comes in the wake of several dangerous incidents involving tourists who were directed to Nyanga as the shortest route to their destinations.

Incidents Prompting the Change

Among those affected was an American tourist, Walter Fischel, who was shot in the face and robbed, and a British surgeon who was tragically killed in August when they were inadvertently re-routed into the township due to road closures. These life-threatening situations highlighted the need for safer navigation systems and triggered Google’s decision to revisit its route recommendations.

Google’s Response and Future Plans

Responding to these incidents, Google is working in collaboration with the South African government and local authorities to understand crime hotspots. The tech giant plans to incorporate new security alerts in Google Maps to help users navigate safely. The partnership also involves digital training for tourism stakeholders and data sharing to provide an overview of tourism trends.

Impact on South African Tourism

The decision to remove potentially dangerous routes from Google Maps is seen as a part of a broader effort to boost South African tourism. South Africa’s Minister of Tourism, Patricia de Lille, co-signed the collaboration with the head of Google South Africa, Alistair Mokoena, with the objective of enhancing the safety and experience of local and international tourists. The move is expected to significantly increase the confidence of travelers relying on navigation systems like Google Maps while exploring South Africa.

Source: Bnn.

Increased promotion of key tourism sites available in the two countries tipped to help increase the number of tourists between the two East African Community member states.

“A big section of the population, including tourism stakeholders, is not aware of the rich and diverse products in each other’s countries, even when the two countries remain each other’s top tourist source markets,” said John Mulimba, Uganda Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Regional Cooperation.

Speaking at the 2nd Uganda-Kenya Coast Tourism Conference in Kwale County, which targets to consolidate networks, synergies, and diversity to maximize the tourism potential between the two countries, Mulimba said the two countries still have untapped tourism potential which if well highlighted could boost the numbers.

“We can move beyond the 370,000 Kenyans who visited Uganda last year, and the 150,000 Ugandans who visited Kenya last year. All we need is to work together, to ensure that we make this partnership work,” he added.

Majority of Kenyans who visited Uganda last year visited for sporting events such as golf and rugby tournaments, festivals and music concerts.

Kenya intends to market its sandy beaches, marine parks, game drives, sky diving and deep seas diving among other tourism products in Uganda while the latter targets to market its mountain gorillas, tree climbing lions and over 1063 bird species in national parks to potential Kenyan visitors.

“The conference theme depicts the importance of building synergies and complementarity based on the different tourism products bought by Uganda and Kenya cost,” added Fatuma Achani, Governor of Kwale County.

Already, more than 200 delegations from Uganda are set to embark on a coastal tour to sample various products and create networks with their Kenyan counterparts.

Source: KBC.

Major destinations and source markets across Africa are expected to end 2023 ahead of pre-pandemic values in terms of value, with domestic tourism performing strongly, reveals new research published today.

The WTM Global Travel Report, in association with Tourism Economics, is published to mark the opening of this year’s WTM London, the world’s most influential travel and tourism event.

For 2023, the report predicts that African international inbound leisure will be down in volumes but up in value compared with 2019.

This year an estimated 43 million people will visit the continent, a 13% drop on the 49 million guests welcomed in 2019. However, despite the drop in volumes, the value of these trips is 103% ahead of what 2019’s business was worth.

As the report states, “the range of diverse countries has resulted in a varied picture” across the continent, and the inbound return for the three biggest markets illustrates the differences.

Market leader Egypt is slightly ahead, with 2023 at 101% of 2019 in value terms; Morocco “has made a strong recovery” and will end the year 130% ahead of pre-pandemic levels. South Africa is the region’s third largest inbound market and the one taking longest to recover – 2023 will come in at only 71% of 2019.

Domestic tourism for the region in 2023 is positive across the board, with all the top ten domestic markets, other than Nigeria, ahead of 2019 for value. South Africa is the biggest domestic market, and is ahead 104%. Number two Egypt is 111% up; third placed Algeria 134% up with Morocco completing the top five domestic markets, registering a 110% increase. Nigeria, which comes in at number four, is at 93% of 2019.

Next year will see the region build on its post-pandemic recovery although South African inbound will continue to fall short of 2019.  However, the long-term picture for the region’s biggest market is positive. By 2033, the report expects that the value of inbound leisure to South Africa will be 143% ahead of 2024.

It also identifies Mozambique, Mali and Madagascar are high-growth markets, with increases of 161%, 167% and 162% respectively in the value of inbound leisure travel by 2033.

Juliette Losardo, Exhibition Director, World Travel Market London, said: “Africa has so much to offer domestic and inbound visitors and its importance as a source market for outbound visitors to other destinations is growing all the time.

“WTM London has always supported the region’s tourism industry, and we’re determined to step up our efforts across the board and to reinforce our message that tourism can be a global force for good, and nowhere is this truer than for Africa.”

Source: Breaking Travel News

A global meeting on tourism has kicked off in Kigali, Rwanda on Thursday with calls to African governments to step up investment in the sector to tap its potential to foster the region’s socio-economic development.

This is because, despite the steady growth of tourism in Africa, tourism has not fully realised its full potential, a situation which is mainly attributed to several bottlenecks in the tourism sector such as the narrow tourism product offer which is mostly focused on wildlife-based tourism at the expense of other tourism segments. 

During the opening ceremony of the 23rd Global Summit of the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC) on Thursday, Presidents Paul Kagame of Rwanda and Samia Suluhu Hassan of Tanzania jointly underscored the critical importance of regional tourism collaboration.

A global meeting on tourism has kicked off in Kigali, Rwanda on Thursday with calls to African governments to step up investment in the sector to tap its potential to foster the region’s socio-economic development.

This is because, despite the steady growth of tourism in Africa, tourism has not fully realised its full potential, a situation which is mainly attributed to several bottlenecks in the tourism sector such as the narrow tourism product offer which is mostly focused on wildlife-based tourism at the expense of other tourism segments. 

During the opening ceremony of the 23rd Global Summit of the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC) on Thursday, Presidents Paul Kagame of Rwanda and Samia Suluhu Hassan of Tanzania jointly underscored the critical importance of regional tourism collaboration.

With attractions and experiences that complement one another, the region stands as a single, multi-faceted tourism hotspot.

Tanzanian President Samia Suluhu Hassan shared her insights on the vital role of tourism in Africa’s economies. She revealed that in Tanzania, the tourism sector contributes a substantial 17.2 percent to the country’s GDP and accounts for 25 per cent of total export earnings.

This contribution she said, not only highlights the sector’s significance but also underscores its potential for “While this is a massive contribution for one single source, it entails that Africa can leverage tourism to drive economic growth and create employment opportunities. The sector (tourism) if well utilised can be of great use to most African countries in terms of repositioning the continent in other connected sectors and henceforth attract more foreign currencies…” said Suluhu.

East Africa is setting its sights on becoming a prominent tourism hub, akin to some of the world’s most renowned destinations.

However, industry experts say the vision for success lies in a groundbreaking strategy: 80 percent of tourists are expected to originate from within the region itself.

This ambitious target calls for a re-evaluation of existing approaches to tourism development, including a fresh perspective on urban areas and cities as key tourism destinations.

“The region suffers from a narrow range of tourism products which are predominantly nature-based; market efforts are biased towards the traditional markets” Geoffrey Manyara, a tourism expert at the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (Uneca) Sub-regional Office for East Africa in Kigali told The EastAfrican.

Manyara highlighted that the region’s tourism potential faces challenges such as a shortage of qualified tourism professionals, high air travel costs, limited accessibility, and inadequate tourism statistics, hindering strategic planning and sector development. Economic growth and job creation.

However, opportunities lie in tapping into the intra-East African Community (EAC) and the broader African market, in addition to nurturing domestic tourism.

“Given that the current efforts appear to be targeting the traditional markets, it will be good to see more efforts being made to tap the emerging African market which is showing great potential from what we have seen in the recent past, and more, so during and post the Covid-19 pandemic.”

The East African Community Tourism Marketing Strategy for 2021-2025 which aims to foster inclusive and sustainable tourism within the EAC region emphasizes the intra-EAC market and aims to attract over 11 million intra-EAC tourists by 2025, a significant increase from the 6.8 million recorded in 2018 if the strategy is effectively executed.

According to WTTC, Africa has the world’s youngest population and by 2033, $1 in every $13 created in Africa, will come from travel and tourism and 1 in 17 jobs will be in the sector.

This demonstrates the huge potential the continent’s sector has for new jobs and new economic growth for young people across Africa. 

Source: The Eastafrican

Lawmakers have joined Kenyans in protesting a directive by the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) seeking to tax personal or household items worth $500 (Ksh75,000) and above, whether new or used by tourists visiting the country.

The National Assembly Committee on Defence and Foreign Relations said some KRA officials have been taking advantage of the directive to harass tourists, hence giving the country bad publicity. The committee chairman Nelson Koech said Kenya instead be working on how to grow the number of tourists visiting the country.

“We are entering the peak tourism season and His Majesty’s visit to Kenya is poised to give our tourism a very big boost. The KRA’s passenger Terminal Guidelines could not have come at a worse time. This is not the time to be threatening those coming to Kenya,” Mr. Koech said.

“We agree, the laws around the world impose limitations on the amount of goods but that should not be an excuse to threaten passengers, harass travellers or infringe on the privacy of tourists. KRA should make it easy for passengers and travellers coming to Kenya to declare their luggage and where necessary pay duty before landing,” he added.

The Belgut MP pointed out that there is a need to clarify which goods are affected and ensure personal effects and electronics are left out.

“There appears to be mischievous characters at Times Tower who are bent on sustaining negative publicity on taxes. We appreciate that the only way we are going to achieve sustainable development as a country is by paying taxes and becoming dependent on our own resources as a country,” Mr. Koech said.

“But even then, there is a need for all agencies of government to go easy on Kenyans and as far as possible avoid coming across as insensitive in making their public announcements,” he said.

“Why would KRA choose when we are preparing for the Royal Visit to remind Kenyans of these new Passenger Rules? Where have they been all along?”

Tourism Cabinet Secretary Alfred Mutua termed the KRA move as one of the reasons the number of tourists visiting the country has been declining.

“You go to Rwanda; they don’t harass you. Does Rwanda not collect taxes? You go to South Africa, and they don’t harass you. In Dubai, they don’t harass you. So, why do our visitors face such challenges in Kenya? And we wonder why people are not coming to Kenya,” Mutua asked.

Senate majority leader Aaron Cheruiyot said on his X account that “the National Assembly finance committee holds the key to alleviating national shame that is the KRA searches at JKIA. By providing the necessary clarity needed to distinguish goods for a commercial venture and personal items”.

Source: The East African

Kenya plans to more than double international tourist arrival in the next five years, as the industry moves towards full recovery in post- pandemic era.

Kenya Tourism Board is seeking to grow arrivals into the country to 5.5 million by 2028, in an ambitious plan that involves the private sector.

It is reaching out to industry players for collaborative efforts to market the country.

According to KTB chairperson Francis Gichaba, the sector is back on full recovery with arrivals by end of the current financial year expected to close at slightly over 1.9 million visitors.

“We are very optimistic that with the support from the private sector and other key players in the industry, our performance will even surpass the 2019 arrivals to over 2 million and progressively beyond,” said Gichaba.

He was speaking at Bomas of Kenya yesterday during a tourism stakeholder meeting that brought together hoteliers, tour operators, travel agents, tourism associations and government agencies.

The session sought to validate KTB’s five-year strategic plan for 2023-2028.

In the strategy, KTB is targeting to achieve 5.5 million international tourist arrivals and grow the tourism sector contribution to Kenya’s economy to Sh 1 trillion annually by June 2028.

The Tourism Research Institute has projected this year’s arrivals at 1.9 million with the number expected to grow to 2.2 million in 2024.

In 2022, arrivals were 1,483,752 which was a 70.5 per cent increase compared to 2021 arrivals of 870,465.

The country’s best year remains 2019 when arrivals hit a high of 2.04 million visitors with earnings of Sh296.2 billion.

Earnings are expected to hit Sh359.1 billion next year, and then Sh396.1 billion the year after.

“The projections were informed by global economic factors and Covid recovery patterns. The effects of the Russia invasion of Ukraine on some key markets and on global tourism supply channels was also taken on board,” TRI acting Chief Executive Officer David Gitonga told the Star.

Its based on economically tested tourism prediction models that TRI has acquired, contracted, he added.

Yesterday, Gichaba said destination marketing was a collaborative exercise, noting that the involvement of the private sector in the strategy development was one of the ways of incorporating invaluable ideas that would shape the sector’s performance within the review period.

Kenya Hotel Keepers Association and Caterers CEO Mike Macharia on his part, called on the private players to tailor their product and experiences to the needs of the market.

“We talk of Africa as the low hanging fruit in terms of numbers and market share into the country and therefore, the product owners should package their products and experience and sell to Africa, “Macharia said.

This move, he said, would also open opportunities for Africans to invest in Kenya’s hospitality sector.

While lauding KTB for consolidating industry’s input in its strategy, the KAHC chief challenged the marketing agency not to downsize on in-market promotional activities.

These includes participating in tourism fairs such as World Travel Market and International Tourism Bourse among others, which he noted as ways of increasing brand visibility.

“We have to go where the market is, and this is what our competitors such as South Africa have beaten us on. They have invested heavily on market presence not only to build brand awareness but to sign marketing deals,” Macharia said.

In the KTB strategy, the sector is looking to grow Kenya’s market share in Africa to six per cent from the current 2.26 per cent and increase employment contribution from 7.9 per cent in 2022, to an annual growth 10 per cent.

On the Gross Domestic Product, the tourism marketing agency is targeting to move from 6.4 per cent recorded last year to 10 per cent by 2027.

The performance of the domestic market is also expected to grow from the current bed nights of five million to about 7.4 million in 2028.  

Source: The Star