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{
    "id": 393863,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/393863/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 40,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "October 9, 2013 SENATE DEBATES 9 Sen. (Prof.) Anyang’-Nyong’o",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": "Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, I rise to support this Motion. I had just stepped out of the House when Sen. David Musila opposed the Motion. So, I do not know why he opposed the Motion. However, that is his democratic right. One of the reasons I support this Motion is that we should not only think about tourism in relation to foreigners. One of the things we should begin to focus on is domestic tourism. There is, indeed, a lot of domestic tourism going on only that it is not captured in the data of the Ministry of East African Affairs, Commerce and Tourism. I have been to several countries which have succeeded in building their tourism industry such as Mexico, Great Britain and the United States of America. There is a lot of tourism there. Local air travel is encouraged and there are very many destinations. For instance, the Ethiopians have a lot of domestic tourism. The Ethiopian Airlines have many destinations. We have improved, recently in terms of domestic destinations in Kenya. However, these are very expensive. One of the things that are a disaster today is the amount of money it costs a Kenyan to travel by air from one part of the country to the other. This is a complete disaster because it compels Kenyans to spend a lot of money. The airlines in the industry that have monopolised the routes have kind of captured their audience to the extent that they charge an arm and a leg. I do not think this is good for the airlines industry, nor is it good for Kenyans. It makes no sense to pay Kshs28,000 for a return ticket to Kisumu. That is more than half the pay for a ward representative. I do not think this makes sense at all. I would like to urge those who control the airlines industry to think twice before they charge this kind of money. Secondly, one good thing with Sen. Karaba’s Motion is that it is innovative. Cable cars should have been implemented a long time ago. Travelling from Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) into town is a nightmare when one has arrived at about 5.00 a.m. on any day of the week. It is also a nightmare when you arrive in the morning about 6.00 a.m. or 7.00 a.m. because you are competing with cars and matatu users on the same highways. You are also competing with lorries coming from Mombasa, transporting goods to Kampala. This is not good for either air transport or tourism. Building a cable car of light car transport from the airport to town is a very simple thing. I remember my experiences from other jurisdictions. In 1982, Mexico decided to expand on its subway system. Within a matter of ten years, the City of Mexico had been connected to the subway all over. This has improved domestic travel and tourism tremendously. Mexico has many ancient and historical sites. Due to the huge size of the Mexican State and nation, people from different parts of Mexico do not know about other parts of their country. Since they have established air travel domestically and packages that suit local people, there is a lot of travel internally. There is something they call goleto todo pogo dos which means a ticket with everything paid for. That means that you can buy a ticket and you can travel down for three weeks while everything has been paid for, including hotel, taxis among others. That package gives one an opportunity to visit sites you have never seen. The word tourism means visiting places you have not been to. I am sure that many of us in this Senate have many places they have not visited. If we were to visit these places, these would be very exciting. The electronic version of the Senate Hansard Report is for information purposes only. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor, Senate."
}