AMBOSELI, Kajiado, October 18 – Tembea Tujenge Kenya initiative has launched the second phase of a campaign aimed at boosting the growth of domestic tourism in Kenya by encouraging more local travel at a time when the hotel sector continues to recover from the negative effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Maina Kageni, the ambassador of the initiative said the drive focuses on marketing campaigns and initiatives aimed at attracting Kenyans to take up domestic tourism.
The campaign, Maina said will subsequently contribute to national priorities such as economic growth, job creation, and poverty alleviation.
“The popularity of local national parks and attraction sites to the domestic market is on the rise. Tembea Tujenge Kenya’s mission is to inspire new strategies for positioning the sector for long-term sustainable growth,” he said during the launch of the phase two campaign in Amboseli National Park.
Kageni said program which has covered 20 out of the 47 counties has attracted a lot of engagement and a great appetite to embrace domestic tourism from Kenyans online, as well as the positive impact of infrastructural development in our country,
“Tembea Tujenge Kenya has achieved a 36,000-bed conversion across the country since October 2020 and we are still aiming higher in order to double that number.,” he added.
The campaign which is being sponsored by the Tourism Fund, Safaricom, Isuzu East Africa, Shell/Vivo energy, Sarova Hotels, St John’s Ambulance and BT Concepts will continue until 2024.
Isuzu East Africa’s Communications Manager Dancan Muhindi added that traveling has opened up the economy and boosted vehicle sales as more clients in the industry are ordering vehicles from Isuzu and especially the NPS Game viewer which is gaining popularity in the market.
“We have experienced a re-awakening of the sector and our efforts are starting to bear fruit. We expect to see many more economic activities in the hospitality industry to create more jobs and opportunities for Kenyans.” Dancan added.
Andrew Kanyutu, the CEO of BT Concepts, (the media agency organizing the event) also urged Kenyans to embrace domestic tourism by doing inter-county tourism in order to end over-reliance on foreign tourism.
“Our aim is to create and maintain employment opportunities, improve economic growth through buy Kenya build Kenya initiative, sustain tourism growth and development that leads to a sustainable and inclusive sector,” Kanyutu stated.
The event was also attended by Ol Tukai Sales and Marketing Manager John Wambugu and St John Kenya Chancellor Robert Mutula.
