
Posted on June 29, 2024
The economically liberalized country in east Africa famous for its beautiful scenes, wild beasts, and vibrant people is Kenya; it has undergone vast economical changes mostly due to tourism. Tourism has gradually developed into one of Kenya key industries in recent years offering employment, infrastructural development as well as supporting the country in the cause of conserving resources. This blog analyses the role of tourists’ impact on the Kenyan economy.
Employment and Income Generation
Travel plays a central role in provision of employment opportunities to a large number of people in Kenya, either in the direct or indirect sense. These are the jobs like employment directly related to hotels, travel agencies, tour operators, and cultural centers. Indirect employment can be said to be derived from the demand for the various commodities and services that revolve around tourism for instance farming, transport and art and craft. With this broad employment spectrum, poverty eradication in many areas especially the rural ones with very little employment opportunities has been in part addressed.
The world travel and tourism council shows that the travel and tourism constitutes 8% of the country’s Gross Domestic Product in the year 2019. In this regard, this significant contribution underlines the importance of tourism in terms of income generation. The sector has expanded and improved the earnings of individuals and households hence the standards of living and hence less incidences of income inequality.
Infrastructure Development
This has favored the construction of various infrastructures owing to a rising number of tourists. This entails the rehabilitation of roads; Air and other communication facilities such as airports. Good infrastructure is not only the enrichment of tourism supplies but also the promotion of the living quality of the local population. For example, good roads make it possible to transport products to the remotest of places thus enhancing trade.
Further, erection of hospitality facilities like hotel, lodge, and resorts has enhanced the touch point to the economy several folds. These establishments purchase a lot of their products locally; therefore, the increase means that there will be more business and more employment. Besides, the construction rush connected with the development of tourism infrastructure presents certain perspectives for expanding investments in the sphere of real estate.
Conservation and Environmental Sustainability
The gifts of nature allowing Kenya ample ground for tourism are climate, natural resources and product unique qualities. Understanding this, government, and different stakeholders have taken different measures and policies that have been set to conserve the wildlife and their habitats. Consumption and other sources of income are important revenue points that fund the conservation of areas of interest.
Entrenchment fees and other incomes from tourism are collected from national parks and reserves which are the main attractions. This money is spent in conservationist measures like anti-poaching eradication, ecological rehabilitation, and awareness campaigns. All these measures not only conserve the physical environment of Kenya, but also make sure that sustainable recreational activities that would be of immense benefits to the next generation are practiced.
Also, community-based tourism has turned out a viable means through which the community can be in a position to conserve as well as develop economically. In such cases, local people are involved in decision making on the use of the natural resources for tourism purposes. This model involves the communities in the conservation of the environment as they are in a direct position to benefit from the resultant earnings from tourism activities.
Cultural Preservation and Promotion
Culture of the country is quite diverse and that forms the basis on which the tourism is based. Despite being one of the most significant economic activities, the tourism sector has been useful in the protection of culture and tradition. Cultural tourism enables tourists to have a taste of Kenya’s culture, Music, dance, and artistic jewelry which can enhance cultural interchange.
With reference to cultural tourism, the revenues received are used for the maintenance of traditional activities, the creation of cultural facilities and museums. These include the sale of products created by artisans and artists; this maintains cultural practices since the performers receive income to support them.
Lessons learned and the future plan
Despite these benefits, the tourism sector of Kenya has some challenges such as political instabilities, terrorism threats, and the effects of global other calamities that include the recent one being the COVID 19. Such problems can dissuade the tourists and bring negative repercussions to the development of the industry.
These are some of the challenges that needs to be overcome in order to allow sustainable growth of tourism in Kenya through boosting security, come up with new product varieties in tourism business and encouraging domestic tourism. Moreover, it is proposed to allocate funds for digital advertising and the development of services to increase the flow of visitors and increase the competitiveness of the industry.
Conclusion
It must be said that tourism can hardly be accused of having acted as a drag on the process of economic liberalization in Kenya. The private sector, private investment has brought employment, developed social amenities, embraced the cause of conservation, and also shown the effort of conserving culture. As this paper has established, there are existing issues in this sector but ongoing growth and responsible management of the tourism sector are promising for Kenya’s economy. So if effectively marketed, Kenya can sustain the influx of tourists visiting the country thus making it a good investment destination for many years to come. To know more about the Kenya tourism and tour packages, click here.