Poor Roads in East Africa, Poor Tourism Revenue

The Mombasa and Coast Tourist Association requested the local government and road authorities to atheist repair the roads that led to the major tourism centers as soon as possible because proper infrastructure and good sanitation are very important in the tourism industry. Mohamed Hersi the chair person, MCTA chairman said that the all roads authorities like the Kenya Urban Roads Authority, Kenya Rural Roads Authority, the municipal and county councils of the coastal towns have got to ado all they can to improve on the roads in the country more so those leading to say national parks, game reserves and other tourists attraction centers.

Hersi was addressing the Star and he mentioned that they should use this time since it is a low season therefore the roads will not be so busy and should be done immediately to avoid any kind of embarrassment when the travelers start coming in big numbers in July. He added that they should copy from the hotels; many of them have closed to carry out some renovation and are accepting just a few tourists. There are so many roads that still need to be repaired although the roads authority has already tried. It is important that the garbage, drainage systems are worked upon if the country is remain clean and look attractive to all the foreigners who may visit and this will in the long run lead to an improvement in the performance of the tourism industry which one of the major contributors to the country’s GDP.

Hersi also added that both local and international tourists should not consider the rumors that Kenya is not safe for any to stay because it is safer than it has ever been therefore all travelers can be sure they will not find any hardships during their stay in Kenya. The government should also improve on the amount of funds that it allocates to the tourism industry if it is improve on its revenue especially since Kenya world class tourist destination therefore has a lot to offer to the tourists.

East Africa to Venture into Eastern Europe Tourism Markets

East Africa’s interest to venture into most of Eastern Europe tourism markets is proving to be more fruitful that they ever expected, currently Kenya is planning to boost it tourism sector in countries like Slovakia by introducing a direct flight between Kenya and Slovakia which will hopefully be starting by July 4. Kenya tourism Minister Danson Mwazo  yesterday said that number of  agreements were drawn during hi trip to Easter Europe Slovakia to boost business and tourism activities between both countries. Kenya’s very first charter plane to Easter Europe will be flying in the first week of July and will land on 30th June or 4th of July with the 200 tourists who will be the first batch of tourists from Slovakia to Kenya.

Mlynár added that there will high levels of tourism marketing and business promotional activities between Slovakia and Kenya within the year so that there is a remarkable increase in the number of travelers between Nairobi and Slovakia thus the need to have a direct charter flight to make movement a lot easy. Slovakia is a relatively small country with about 5.5 million people but is a potential market for Kenya’s products and tourism business.

Mlynár revealed that the Slovakians love beach and wildlife attractions like majority of Europeans and Kenya has very beautiful beaches and almost the best wildlife which should only be promoted by the Kenya Tourism Board. “Slovakia is a potential market because Western Europe experiences the economic crisis, Eastern Europe is getting better. This will the first time Slovakia will get a direct flight to anywhere further south from Egypt which was originally called the popular African leisure destination for Slovakians.

UWA in Collaboration with USA

Uganda Wildlife Authority together with the United States government came up with a new website called Uganda wildlife.org which they will use to market Uganda’s tourism attractions. The site was setup with the help of international travel writers as well as various photographers with the best intention of promoting Uganda as the leading tourist destination world wide through giving all the necessary information about the 10 national parks that Uganda has got.

There is information about conservation, communities, and wildlife, with details about tourist activities like the game drives, gorilla tracking, and wildlife monitoring among so many others. This site was launched by Uganda Prime Minister who also encouraged the Uganda Wildlife Authority to market good use of their Twitter and Face book because so many people use them and therefore is the best to use in marketing world wide.

He also added that it would be very good in UWA employed people whose main job is to get involved with the society with the help of the media and make sure there is always a live debate relating to our tourism industry so that the country can easily know what route to use if it is to stay the best tourism destination. It should not always be about the mountain gorillas, Uganda can also be like Jerusalem, Mecca or Rome if UTB put some emphasis on cultural as one important tourism attraction Mbabazi said.

The industry is also faced with the fact that the national park are being destroyed by people as they try find enough land to have their human activities. Human activities have driven animals out of the parks to the neighboring countries like Kenya and Congo and after some years, Uganda will run short of wildlife to attract tourists and therefore the industry will collapse.

The deputy US ambassador to Uganda Ms Virginia Blaser promised that USA government will continue to invest in building the capacity of government institutions, the private sector and local communities to improve on Uganda’s profile as the must visit place in Africa which is why they will keep working with the private sector to build up and publicize sustainable tourism yields that suit the demands of the different markets all around the world. Good luck in all the plans to develop the industry especially since it is Uganda’s biggest foreign exchange earner.

Cattle Degrading Queen Elizabeth Park

Kasese district leaders have expressed concern over the rate at which a cattle grazing is being carried out in parts of the Queen Elizabeth National Park.

The leaders said the number of livestock is steadily increasing, with the owners practising freelance grazing. They said the practice has started to degrade the park.

The leaders raised the concerns during a stakeholders’ workshop to draft a five-year management plan for Lake Munyanyange. They attributed the increased cattle grazing to the depletion of some key natural resources like the salt at Lake Katwe. “People have lost the salt-mining business and we are worried that they will turn to the national park, which is likely to hinder tourism in the future.”

Rwanda’s Kwita Izina is around the corner.

The Rwanda’s 8th edition of Kwita Izina festival is approaching and it will be held on the 16^th of June. During this festival they do the newly born mountain gorillas and there are a large number of Conservationists from all parts of Eastern Africa as well as the whole world who are heading to Musanze/ Ruhengeri where they will be gathering on Saturday 16th of June to celebrate Rwandese exceptional conservation festival and they will have to name all the gorillas which have been born within the last 12 months.

Kwita Izina is held every year and it is a perfect occasion to formally give the 5% share that is supposed to go to all the communities which are close to the national parks as compensation for all the damages that the animals cause and might cause to the people and their properties within the year. This money comes from the sale of tracking permits which have been at 500 US Dollars per person per trip but will be increasing to $750 per person per trip. There will be community gathering on the 15^th June and the function will be officially opened by the RDB and local administration staff of water projects. Extra class rooms as well as more material benefits will be provide for the good of the local people provided by RDB Tourism. This is an indicator that conserving and protecting these gorillas is beneficial to both the conservationists and the people living around as well thus the reason they need to get involved.

Ever since Rwanda received Qatar Airways, South African Airways and Turkish Airlines, it has not been the same as before their arrival in 2011. They have greatly influenced the growth of the Rwanda air and the expansion of their Tourism industry by the increase in the number of tourists who visit Rwanda using those airlines and therefore making the Land of a Thousand Hills famous around the world since travelers can fly in any time of the year. You can always check out the volcanic mountains after gorilla tracking in the national park.