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{
    "id": 836626,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/836626/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 170,
    "type": "other",
    "speaker_name": "",
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    "speaker": null,
    "content": "I brought this Motion because last year alone we had 1.6 million tourists who visited this country. I am sure the majority of them came in through these big companies that organise all the foreign travel in this country. Therefore, about 90 per cent of all the money they pay remains in London, UK, Germany, China and so on. Very little of it remains here. We can improve the competitive index of the tourism sector in this country by tapping in the tourists who come to attend meetings, exhibitions and conferences. If they visit Nakuru, Taita Taveta, Narok, Isiolo and other towns and end up spending $USA100 in a day; that will amount to $USA16 million that will go directly to the communities. That will create more jobs. It will also ensure that we are sold worldwide as a place to go to. Earlier on this year we travelled to Australia. When you go to Australia the only thing they can brag that they have a lot are the Kangaroos. However, the tourism department there took the next step to ensure that when you land there you are told of many things that you can experience. Madam Temporary Speaker, it is important that we now think about these statistics that we take. We have tall towers in Nyando, Busia, Narok and many other places which can be used to sell what we have to tourists in their cell phones. We can take this analytic data and put it into good use. This is the only way we can address the issues of unemployment and poverty in these counties. Madam Temporary Speaker, one of the things I feel sorry about is that every Tuesday or Thursday, we have the Maasai Market at the Junction Mall, the Village Market and in these affluent neighbourhoods. When you go there, you will find people selling beadwork, yet they are not really benefitting. These tourists could do more; they can go to a village, Kibera or to Kajiado, down the road and participate in sports or in community development work where they can leave more money for our people. It is imperative that the Ministry of Tourism and Wildlife comes up with a way of engaging these companies that deal with location-based data analytics to ensure that we find out the number of tourists – particularly French women between the ages of 17 and 30 years – who visited Kenya last year and where they went to. This data is available and it can help us to sell more and also reach out to our customers. For us in this economy – which some consider a developing or a middle income economy – we need to use technology to reach out to everyone who comes here. Madam Temporary Speaker, there is a company called “Reach-U” which I have done some Google search on. This company can even take county government spatial plans, for instance for Isiolo, and ask about the number of national parks we have there. We have tourists and people in places such as America, who may never afford to get into a plane and come to Nairobi. However, after being given that virtual reality tour of Isiolo County and its game parks, they pay. Going online is everything. I know of young men who make millions and millions of shillings using the internet. Our children are on the internet. Let us now engage the Ministry of Tourism and Wildlife in an exercise where they can now start tapping into our rich culture. For example, the Kikuyu, Somali, Luo and Luhya cultures are rich. The Maasai culture is very rich because it is the one that we 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."
}