Being a developing country, especially comparing its expectations to the social, ethical and cultural stagnation of much of the West, can be exciting and make one think of a future full of possibilities.
For Kenya, this is largely the case, with the addition of that touch of the imponderable that Africa always imposes, with all the ancestral problems it brings with it, and with the clutches of those who, as always, want to take advantage of it. On the other hand, there can also be a beautiful ‘identity crisis’ that leads one to reconsider priorities and to ‘sell oneself’ in a certain way.
In this sense, tourism is an obvious litmus test. Kenya for the past two years has been experiencing the return of international travellers and interest in its wonders, after the inevitable pandemic obscurantism. The numbers, though still far from those of a country that promises to host 10 million tourists by 2030 (but promises, as we know, belong to a well-defined class of speakers...), but the 20-25% annual increase is a reality that should materialise even in 2024.
The problem is: how to attract more foreigners?
What do they want most from this country?
If the trends in world tourism indicate, especially since it is largely young people who travel, that there is a preference for places full of entertainment, services, everything within reach or with uniqueness that cannot be found elsewhere in the world, Kenya is more in the second group than in the first.
Safaris, especially those in protected reserves and less so in government-run national parks, are increasingly a niche phenomenon, bringing in more revenue for the owners or renters of lodges and camps, rather than for the whole industry. Safaris cost money, and enthusiasts tend to do just that: they arrive by plane in Nairobi and leave for the reserve. Often even in a smaller plane.
And who sees them?
Different, but not too different, is the question of the sea. What is the percentage of tourists who arrive in Mombasa, are transported to the hotels and resorts on the coast, and then go out every day, happily captive of swimming pools, all-inclusives, massages and coconut cocktails under the palm trees?
How many bed & breakfasts does it take to make the numbers of an Alpitour resort?
Above all, what facilities would Kenya need to activate a Thailand model of tourism (to give an example of who, before the pandemic, had reached 10 million tourists a year)?
First and foremost, more modern facilities, but in order to give new entrepreneurs and old ones the impetus to restructure, it is the state that should think about infrastructure focused on improving the influx and quality of travellers.
From this perspective, the recent meeting between Italian and Kenyan institutions for the famous coastal road that would connect Malindi and Watamu is a good sign.
The Casuarina-Jacaranda-Watamu road is just the example of what should be done, to create a ‘Riviera’, which allows tourists to get out and enjoy different solutions and not think of being in a ‘golden prison’. It is extraordinary how a road can change the entire tourist morphology of a country, just think of the once barren and deserted links between the Red Sea resorts, for example, which are now full of clubs, restaurants and small shops. Needless to say, in order to entice an influx of guests, an airport in line with the times and with arrival and departure frequencies worthy of a tourist resort is essential.
Kenya's new tourism minister, Rebecca Miano, comes from corporate management, having headed important state and parastatal bodies, chief among them KenGen, the national power utility, which also controls Kenya Power & Lightning. Miano is a valuable manager and we hope that she can apply her qualities in a department too often identified with sterile marketing and an almost useless nomadism of trade fairs and social proclamations. It is certainly important, as she is doing, to think about wildlife and the human-animal conflict, as well as enticing its citizens to learn about its territory, but it is time to think about a competitive Kenya for international tourism, and it would be a shame not to seize this opportunity, now that the desire to approach it for its many wonders is returning.