Malindi Urban Economic Plan

3.3 TOURISM ACTION PLAN Malindi’s growth and prosperity has been anchored on tourism and the influx of both international and national visitors to its shores coming to experience the Swahili culture, sandy beaches and rich history as a stopover for Vasco da Gamma and home to Portuguese settlers. Over the past 20 years it has seen a significant and impactful decline in tourist numbers mostly due to safety and security concerns but also as a result of evolving trends in international travel demanding new types of experiences. The development of new beach destinations such as Watamu and further south in Mombasa increased competition for the already decreasing international tourist arrivals. This has led to the consequential decline in revenue, and the erosion of the Town’s urban fabric and character through a lack of investment in public and private building and infrastructure.

Through the diagnostics assessment it has been shown that tourism remains a core potential offering for the Town. In fact, tourism has been identified as one of the main growth areas within the Kenyan economy and tourism growth and diversification is supported within the Vision 2030, the NSP and the ISUDP. It is also a key objective of the Kilifi County to increase tourism spend within the County through a tourism strategy implementation.

The aim of the Tourism Action Plan (TAP) is to build on this strategic direction and develop a series of interventions that can advance the tourism offer within Malindi Municipality. It will therefore be important to base this plan on the comparative and competitive advantages of the Municipality that differentiate from other destinations within Kenya and focus on developing some of its unique characteristics such as the strong cultural and natural environments Malindi has to offer. At the same time, it would be critical to consider the customer base and move beyond just international tourists to include an offer for regional and local visitors that can sustain activity in between seasons.

The interventions outlined within the TAP consider both ‘soft’ and ‘hard’ actions that will support the development of the tourism sector in a comprehensive manner.