NAIROBI, Kenya, Oct 9 – A total of 1,027 tourism facilities have been accredited by the Tourism Regulatory Authority (TRA) ahead of the national classification exercise in January 2025.
TRA, which is tasked with regulating the sector, announced that the approved players offer accommodation and catering services in 31 counties.
In June this year, State Department for Tourism PS John Ololtua said that the government will soon be rolling out the nationwide hotel classification exercise with an aim to attract more tourists.
The East African Community (EAC) in 2009 developed common classification criteria to standardize accommodation facilities in the region bloc.
The EAC criteria cover town and vacation hotels, lodges, tent camps, motels, villas, cottages, and serviced apartments.
“As we gear up for the National Classification Exercise in January 2025, I’m pleased to share that @TRA_ke has already accredited 1,027 accommodation and catering establishments across 31 counties,” Tourism CS Rebecca Miano said.
“This paves the way for the East African Community’s star rating system, elevating our sector’s standards.”
Tourism is one of Kenya’s top forex earners, highlighting the important role it plays in the economy, necessitating the need to improve service quality.
For instance, Kenya generated Sh142.5 billion (around 1.11 billion U.S. dollars) in tourism revenue during the first half (H1) of this year, assisted by a significant rise in visitor numbers, according to the Kenya Tourism Board (KTB).
This represented an increase from 1.06 billion dollars in the same period last year, the KTB reported.
The KTB said that Kenya welcomed 1.03 million international visitors, marking a 21.3 percent increase from 847,810 visitors during the same period in 2023.
Domestic tourism also saw growth, with 2.25 million bed nights recorded, about a 10 percent increase from 2.06 million bed nights in the previous year.
“To support the Bottom-Up Economic Transformation Agenda, TRA is also developing customized training programs to uplift non-star-rated accommodations, including Airbnbs, ensuring they deliver exceptional service and meet global benchmarks,” Miano noted.
