In a bid to promote African continental travel, a high delegation led by Zambia’s minister for Tourism, Rodney Malindi Sikumba, had a high-level engagement recently with the Kenya Association of Travel Agents (KATA) to discuss and establish a strategic partnership to promote outbound tourism from Kenya to Zambia’s tourism destinations.
The two countries aim to tap into each other’s tourism markets, a vital source for tourism influx, boosting both nations’ economies and fostering cultural exchange.
Dr Joseph Kithitu, KATA Chairperson, expressed the association’s enthusiasm for growing the travel trade and emphasised the readiness of KATA members to sell Zambia.
He stressed the need to create a business case for Zambia’s travel trade and develop a salable product out of the partnership.
“Today, we should focus on the commercialisation of this partnership on a B2B and B2C level and capitalise on the visa-free access between our countries to promote outbound tourism flows into Zambia and vice versa. The market is ripe, ready, and can pay,” he said.
Kenya and Zambia have already signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on tourism, one of them touching on cooperation between the training institute of tourism in Zambia and that in Kenya.
While both countries are big on wildlife, there are other elements that can make them complimentary to each other in terms of product offerings.
For instance, the fact that Kenya has a big national park right in the middle of the city is a learning lesson for Zambia on how to enhance their national park in Lusaka. Zambia has 20 national parks with the largest being Kafue and it’s the second largest in Africa.
They also have the iconic Victoria Falls, which is one of the seven natural wonders of the world and hosts one of the largest mammals (bat) migration at the Kasanga national park.
This partnership is a step in the actualisation of the MOUs and will encompass various collaborative areas, such as knowledge exchange, familiarisation visits, and encouraging tourist flows between Kenya and Zambia.
Additionally, both parties will share their respective calendars of events to facilitate stakeholder engagement and foster regional cooperation in the spirit of the Africa Continental Free Trade Area.
“This partnership between Kenya Association of Travel Agents and their counterparts in Zambia is a step towards the private sector growing the tourism industry, and my ministry is rallying support behind these initiatives,” said Sikumba.
The minister further highlighted the importance of marketing and packaging Africa, coordinating the travel trade with suppliers, and establishing homegrown solutions.
“Through this partnership, Kenya’s travel trade will be trained on tourism offerings in Zambia. KATA will also provide capacity building for Zambia’s travel trade to enable them to sell the Kenyan tourism product,” noted Agnes Mucuha, KATA
Source: PD
