Entry Instance

HTTP 200 OK
Allow: GET, PUT, PATCH, DELETE, HEAD, OPTIONS
Content-Type: application/json
Vary: Accept

{
    "id": 836632,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/836632/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 176,
    "type": "other",
    "speaker_name": "",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": "We have wildlife and animals that cannot be found together anywhere in the world; and we have birds and butterflies. Many do not know that Kenya is the one place with the highest number of species of birds and butterflies located in one place in Kakamega Forest. Madam Temporary Speaker, we have the most beautiful white sandy beaches that are quite pristine, and which people from all over the world would love to see. We have forests and serious gems of our culture. I remember many years ago around 2008/2009, I worked on a proposal for UNESCO on unearthing the gems of our culture with a professor from Kenyatta University. This was based on what we said we can map of the cultural and creative economy in this country. That project was funded and I am proud that even recently, my Committee on Labour and Social Welfare attended a National Communications Corporation Limited (NATCOM) event and we will be going to Paris to follow up on that; just mapping out what we have. Madam Temporary Speaker, the word “Safari” is a Swahili world for “journey” or “travel” and it is known the world over today. However, it came from the safari in Kenya and the traditional Maasai Mara tours and our national parks. We are home to one of the wonders of the world; the wildebeest migration. Beyond all of that, this is a country where the oldest fossil of our species, as man, has been found. This means that Kenya can be marketed as the “Garden of Eden” or “home,” such that when anybody comes to our airport, they should be told, “Welcome back home.” Madam Temporary Speaker, despite all these blessings that God has bestowed upon us, it is embarrassing that we are discussing how to get new information on 1.5 million tourists. Turkey, for instance, had 42 million tourists in 2014. All they had to show is the Mediterranean Coast and, of course, its history. The world’s biggest tourist destination today is France, which got 82.6 million tourists in 2016. They had more tourists than our population, yet they have much less to show than we do as a country. Madam Temporary Speaker, when I was in Turkey a few years ago, I had a discussion with a gentleman who loves this country very much. His name is Dr. Ali Bozatli. He was the honorary Consular General for Kenya for a while before we set up base in Ankara. He is based in Istanbul. Dr. Ali used to be an aerospace engineer in the United States of America (USA), working for Boeing. In the 1980s, he was approached by his country and they told him to go back home to work in the tourism industry, because they had some leadership changes. He made a few calls to his friends in some of the Bretton Woods Institutions and they told him that they knew what they could do to revive each country. However, they told him that unless their proposals were implemented to the letter, they would not be interested. When Dr. Ali got that commitment, he went back to his country and set up shop. A lot of the success that you hear about Turkey can be ascribed to him and people like him. Madam Temporary Speaker, what they did was simple. One, they understood their product. As a country, we must understand what our product is and what we will show uniquely to the world. There are countries that are doing amazingly well in tourism numbers, for example, Germany and the United States of America (USA), which gets 77 million tourists a year. It is because they know how to market and sell the little that they have. 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."
}