Kenya seeks to increase tourist arrivals via travel info
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E-mail Xinhua, June 10, 2013
Kenya's tourism marketing body on Monday kicked off a project aimed at boosting visitor numbers in the East African nation by launching a mobile application to enable tourists' access travel information.
The Kenya Tourism Board (KTB) said the first Magical Kenya App will act as a platform for tourists to share their experiences from their holidays Kenya as it allows tourists to build their itinerary and document their travels.
"It is the perfect travel companion, helping you explore Kenya whether one is preparing for a trip to Kenya, already in the country or simply one is curious and wants to learn more about this beautiful destination," KTB Managing Director Muriithi Ndegwa said in a statement issued in Nairobi.
The application comes after the government plans to increase funding for tourism marketing to help turn around the industry which has set a target of achieving 3 million visitors by 2017.
Deputy President William Ruto said the government will increase the budget for marketing Kenya as a tourist destination to three times its present allocation.
"We need to increase the marketing budget to the Kenya Tourism Board from 740 million shillings (9 million U.S. dollars) to about 3 billion shillings (36 million dollars) so as to increase tourist arrivals from the current 1.6 million to 3 million tourists per year in the short term," he said in May.
Ruto said this strategy will develop the country's tourism industry to make it more competitive and help create job more opportunities for the youths of this country.
The App is also designed to make the visitor's experience more seamless by providing tourists with to access the latest and most essential information built on 5 key categories such as generic information about Kenya , Destinations, what to do, what to see and a directory service for the tourism industry, all at their fingertips.
Ndegwa said that the application presents a new facet of Information and Communications Technology (ICT), by taking advantage of the increased mobile phone penetration and usage of internet based functionalities.
He said about half the population of the earth now uses mobile communications, noting that a billion mobile subscribers were added in the last 4 years to leave the total standing at 3.2 billion, with much of the growth attributed to the use of data.
"It is therefore imperative that we use this ubiquitous tool of communication to market in Kenya," Ndegwa said.
Uncertainties relating to general elections and pockets of attacks by the Al-Shabaab militant group last affected tourist numbers last year, dropping by 29,000 visitors to 1.24 million visitors in 2012 compared to 1.27 million visitors recorded in 2011.
Tourism stakeholders have expressed optimism that current environment will be a major boost to the tourism industry and asked the travel agents selling Kenya to market country's diversity with confidence on the safety of travelers.
The KTB chief said that the application, which works on the both Android and iOS platforms, also works as a trip planner and journal for users to build an itinerary and document travels through photos, maps and video, with location features on their phone to connect with local businesses, hotels, restaurants and many other related tourism service providers.
In addition, the App makes your experience truly unforgettable by creating a souvenir video that can be integrated with popular social media site; Facebook. Tourism related service providers can list their business on the Magical Kenya App. Endi
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