The East African Community region is projecting annual tourist arrivals to increase to 14.05 million by 2025 from the 7.2 million recorded in 2019.
Speaking at a three-day Annual Tourism Expo in Nairobi, the EAC Deputy Secretary General in charge of Customs, Trade and Monetary Affairs, Annette Ssemuwemba, said that regional tourism has been on an upward trajectory after recovering from the effects of the pandemic.
- The region hosted 5.8 million tourist arrivals in 2022, and projects that this will increase to 7 million in 2024, before doubling in 2025.
- The Annual Tourism Expo is among the key initiatives that EAC has embarked on as part of implementing the Regional Tourism Marketing Strategy 2021-2025. The first two Expos, in 2021 and 2022, were hosted in Arusha and Bujumbura respectively.
Ssemuwemba underscored the need to diversify tourism products beyond traditional tourism attractions, and joint promotion of the region, as a catalyst to revamping the EAC region as a single tourism destination. She added that the EAC is collaborating with Partner States to develop other products such as cultural tourism, sport tourism, agro-tourism, and golf tourism among others.
“As we diversify our tourism markets, increasing the range of our tourism product offerings is inevitable. Whereas we are quite competitive in terms of beach and wildlife safari tourism, we are urging all EAC Partner States to diversify their tourism products,” said the Deputy Secretary General.
Cabinet Secretary in charge of Tourism and Wildlife, Alfred Mutua added that the Kenyan government is focusing on infrastructure improvement, security, incentives and marketing campaigns to sustain tourism growth.
- As part of a five year plan, Kenya targets 5.5 million international tourist arrivals and a $6.3 billion annual contribution by 2028.
- In its green growth agenda, Kenya is set to introduce initiatives such as electric cars in parks and eco-rating schemes in quest to propel tourism.
One Visa for All
Among the major issues in regional tourism is the Single Tourist Visa (STV) which member states have been considering for almost two decades.
“Fast-tracking of the EAC Single Tourism Visa is critical to sell the region as a single tourism investment hub,” Rebecca Kadaga, the 1st Deputy Prime Minister of Uganda and Minister for EAC Affairs, said.
All current member states with the important exception of Tanzania is implementing the plan. Kenya, Uganda, and Rwanda are already in advanced stages, while the Burundi, South Sudan, and the Democratic Republic of Congo are considering joining the visa.
- Dodoma’s hesitation is informed by several factors, and the country argues that a feasibility plan conducted in 2010 has been overtaken by events.
- Among its key issues is whether visa applications should be handled by immigration departments or tourism dockets.
- In response, Kampala has argued for a review of the study instead of commissioning a new one.
A regional, simplified process of visa applications would allow regional tourism sector players, including policymakers, to cooperate easily.
Bjoern Richter, Head of Digital Transformation at GIZ, said that a joint catalogue on the offerings of the regional tourism sector was recently developed and adopted by the EAC Partner States.
“As GIZ, we look forward to working with the EAC Secretariat and EAC Partner States Tourism Boards as well as the East African Tourism Platform on making the EAC region a widely recognised global brand,” he said.
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