EAST AFRICA TOURISM PLATFORM
Nairobi, June 15, 2017
Jambo from East Africa Tourism Platform!
T
HIS YEAR WE, EAST AFRICA TOURISM PLATFORM, are celebrating 5 years of existence. I vividly remember our first meeting a few years back when as key tourism players we approached Trademark East Africa and impressed upon them to support the private sector in East Africa Community integration. As we celebrate, we take cognizance of the journey we have travelled. We have come a long way; faced challenges and triumphed in many instances. We are delighted with the strides made and have confidence in the foundation we have laid in East African Community. Since inception in 2012, we have managed to facilitate several reforms that have positively impacted East Africa's tourism industry. We have tirelessly engaged policymakers and championed for the private sector. As a result, we have received recognition from across the globe, with notable examples from World Tourism Organization and the World Bank. In the words of World Bank publication (2016) EATP has recently shown leadership in attempting to champion and facilitate a collective, coordinated and simultaneous approach to enhancing East Africa’s competitiveness in travel and tourism. As the organization, we have played a critical role in the pursuance of a Single Destination Brand Showcasing East Africa as One in Tourism Expos, zero-cost work permits-enabling free movement of labour, Single Tourist Visa, Interstate Passes, Joint Tourism Marketing Committee and Joint Stand/Booth in WTM and ITB
Berlin. We have further strengthened national tourism private apex bodies. These organizations are now able to lobby at national and regional levels. We would like to acknowledge partner states’ political goodwill, zealous leadership styles and steadfast commitment to integration and strengthened cooperation in regional tourism development and marketing. We are experiencing challenges attributed to lack of innovation in product development, unverifiable returns on investment from joint initiatives, inadequate accurate and up-dated data, changing business dynamics, negative perceptions, travel advisories, costly air fares, inadequate air frequency and restrictive bilateral air service agreements pointing to the herculean task ahead of us. Moving forward, EATP will continue to position East Africa as one destination and work together with partners to fulfill EATP's advocacy agenda, vision and mission. We extend our sincere gratitude to Trade Mark East Africa, EAC partner states, Ministries of Tourism, Tourism Boards, East Africa Business Council, Private Sector Apex Bodies among other partners for steadfast support and commitment to the ideals of regional tourism within the East African Community. Our commitment to a Single Competitive East Africa Tourism Destination will forever remain unchanged. Welcome and enjoy your reading. Bonifence BYAMUKAMA EATP - Chairman
EATP HIGHLIGHTS AND ACHIEVEMENTS Collaboration with the Public Sector:
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National Tourism Roundtables have been established and Operationalized in all five partner states of East Africa (Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda).
Operationalization of East Africa Destination Portal, Documentary and TV advertisement to market East Africa as a single destination and create awareness on the use of the EATV, National IDs and Interstate Passes (within the control of the Joint Tourism Marketing Committee). www.visiteastafrica.org
Visa on arrival for most African countries in Kenya, Rwanda, Uganda and Tanzania.
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EATP has constantly voiced Private Stakeholders’ concerns at various high level panel discussions. At the same time, we have continued to relay timely updates through various policy briefs.
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EATP successfully lobbied Tourism Boards from across Kenya, Rwanda and Uganda, to join forces and co-operatively market their respective countries as One Destination/One Visa under a joint stand at WTM 2016 and ITB 2017.
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Trade Exhibition & Fairs: • •
EATP has facilitated business and networking opportunities for regional travel and tourism practitioners in Kwita Izina, Karibu Fair, Magical Kenya 2016, KiliFair and Pearl of Africa. Approximately 2,500 regional business operators have been given the opportunity to trade and learn on regional products through B2B, exhibitions, trade-fairs and destination trainings.
Ease of Movement across Kenya, Rwanda and Uganda: • • •
Cross border movement across the region has realized an average year on year growth of 2% since 2014. In 2015, the number of regional tourist arrivals from within the EAC member states was approximately 852,000 representing 65% of tourism arrivals. This is chiefly attributed to the single tourist visa. More than 10,000 EATVs valued at US$ 1.5 Million have been sold in Kenya, Rwanda and Uganda.
Domestic Tourism: •
Drawing lessons from Kenya’s Tembea Kenya, Uganda and Rwanda are running Turambule Uganda (Visit Uganda) and Tembera-U-Rwanda (Visit Rwanda) campaigns respectively. They anticipate a 15% growth in regional tourist arrivals within the span of 1 year.
Destination East Africa
KENYA RWANDA Uganda is Kenya’s top African tourist source market. The country ranks 4th position in Kenya’s global tourist arrivals. At the close of 2016, the Ugandan market recorded a remarkable growth of 75.7% increase in arrivals closing at 51,023 arrivals up from 29,038 in 2015. In the same period, Kenya recorded a 3.7% growth in Rwandan tourist arrivals posting 11,658 arrivals up from 11,242 in 2015. On the other hand, domestic tourism has been recording positive growth every year. At a close of 2016, a total of 3.6 million bed nights were taken up by Kenyans compared to 3.1 million in 2015; representing a growth rate of 14.6%. The domestic market is resilient and cushions the industry during low seasons.
East Africa represents 44% of arrivals and 38% of revenues. Uganda occupies 2nd top source market for Rwanda with about 260,000 Ugandans visiting Rwanda annually. Kenya is at 5th top position in arrivals to Rwanda with about 65,000 Kenyans visiting Rwanda annually. Rwanda’s domestic tourism has been growing at a great pace. Rwandan visits in 3 Rwandan National parks grew from 30,031 in 2015 to 35,142 in 2016; representing an increase of 18%.
UGANDA TANZANIA Within the region, Kenya ranks highly as one of the key source markets for travelers to Uganda accounting for over 48%, followed by Rwanda at 35.3%; Tanzania at 11.2% and Burundi at 5.4%. This is mainly attributed to education, entertainment and visiting friends and family. The annual Uganda Martyrs’ Day celebrations held on June 3rd, attracts more than 2.5 million pilgrims, with more than 35% traveling from neighbouring countries, spending more than 4 nights and approximately 200 million shillings (more than $55,500).
BURUNDI
Tanzania’s tourism industry is interlinked with the Kenyan market. With support from EATP, Tanzania Association of Tour Operators (TATO) has boosted its business through the Annual Karibu Fair Travel Expo. EATP has played an instrumental role in linking the tourism sector with regional bodies including East African Business Council (EABC). This has helped in lobbying for reforms. Besides, TATO is grateful to EATP for timely information sharing.
EATP has played an instrumental role in linking the tourism sector with the regional business community and helped in lobbying for policy reforms.
Destination East Africa
Harmonization of Standards • Minimal progress has been reported
Single Tourist Visa (STV)/National ID (NID) • Slow uptake of STVs by tour operators and tourists • Low travel propensity of tourists to visit the three countries at once • Low travel propensity of EAC citizens and expatriates across the three countries • Lack of knowledge on the use of NIDs to travel across the three countries
Free movement of people and Tourism Service • Despite the region enjoying the fruits of collaboration such as zero-cost work permits-enabling free movement of labour, Single Tourist Visa, use of IDs as travel documents and joint campaigns, protectionism and fear of competition are still a major concern
Open Skies Policy • Lack of sufficient connectivity-direct flights • Reluctance to liberalize national air spaces across the region • Cost of travel as a hindering factor
Data Collection and Sharing • Not satisfactory but some progress has been registered.
Other Challenges include: • Absence of strategically-integrated product development and marketing • Branding the region (Destination East Africa) • Protectionism and legal obstacles to open skies • Inadequate intra-regional air connectivity and costly fares • Lack of regional tourism policy and divergent tax regimes • High visa fees and complex visa-acquisition procedures • Scepticism among some partner states • Inadequate budgetary allocation • Underdeveloped tourism infrastructure
Opportunities
Based on recent increased tourist arrivals and spending, tourism within the EAC has significant potential for growth. As a result, with a major focus on competitiveness, these countries are in their best-ever position to harness the development promise of expanded and sustainable tourism
Policy makers should take decisive and proactive actions to steer regional airlines to greater heights. This is an era for open sky policy. It is estimated that liberalization among the five EAC partner states will result in 46,320 additional jobs and annual revenue of US$ 202.1 million. Affordable air travel is not an option
The journey towards higher standards, policy and tax reforms is far from over and we urge all stakeholders to pull together and address hindrances to tourism prosperity within the EAC. With a population of over 160 million, East Africa is a major market of itself
Regional tourism is an ideal substitute to foreign tourism undertaken by East Africans. Growth of regional tourism is supported by existence of common languages and absence of visa-requirements that are necessary for foreign travel
I think EATP has to do whatever it can to identify, understand and clearly know who are the real movers and shakers in each of the five partner states. Once it has each of the people and know who they are, it should get to understand their opinions and fears and seek to win their goodwill. (Burundi)
Testimoninals
Before you can put an issue on the table, you need to know who you are talking to. In the past, there was no forum whatsoever where we would sit and talk with each other. Where else would I stand with Tanzanians to discuss anything? Before we would wait for an issue to rise and then argue over it. We were always talking at each other and arguing over conflicting issues. So through, EATP, we normally sit down and examine issues together and look for points of commonality. EATP has created a mediation forum where we engage and seek a common ground (an agreed agenda) before it proceeds to lobby regional governments. (Kenya)
Whatever EATP puts forward should be seen as an East African agenda; not favour any individual country. EATP should be seen as a defender of East African Values. (Uganda)
The spirit of oneness and cohesion needed to market Destination East Africa as a Single Tourist Destination in international fairs is curtailed by the preference of some partner states to market themselves as competitors. In the process, EAC’s motto of “One People, One Destiny” is ignored (Rwanda)
East Africa Tourism Platform has been very instrumental in supporting the private sector in East Africa and I am proud to see huge participation (in Kenyan Tourism Expo) from Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda and Rwanda. As the private sector, we appreciate the role played by EATP in helping us improve our products and opening new doors for our businesses through networking opportunities and building new partnerships (Tanzania)
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Destination East Africa Kenya Tourism Federation – Secretariat| KWS Headquarters – Langata Road, P.O. Box 15013-00509, Nairobi| EAST AFRICA TOURISM PLATFORM Tel: +254208001000/3/1| Mobile: +254724624538 Kenya Tourism Ð Secretariat| Facebook: EastFederation Africa Tourism Platform| KWS Headquarters Ð Langata Road, Twitter: @TourismEA| P.O. Box 15013-00509, Nairobi| Skype: tourismea Tel: +254208001000/3/1| Mobile: +254724624538