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{
    "id": 836634,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/836634/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 178,
    "type": "other",
    "speaker_name": "",
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    "speaker": null,
    "content": "If you go to Yellowstone National Park in the USA, as a Kenyan, you will be underwhelmed by what they have to show. But they get more visitors than all our parks combined in five years. If you go to the beach in Dubai, there is nothing unique. In fact, as a Kenyan, you should not stay at the beach. Many Kenyans do not like going to Jumeirah Beach and other places, because they cannot be compared to Diani, Kilifi or Kwale. Madam Temporary Speaker, they diversified their offering. Today, in Kenya, if you go Mombasa, there is no difference between Serena and Whitesands Hotels.They are all the same, yet in actual tourism planning, there needs to be one that is set up like a cultural place. The next one can be a Five Star hotel and the next one can have cottages. Therefore, we must first understand our product and diversify it, and do some research. There are people who want to come and see our sportsmen. Kenya is known for athletics and high attitude training. There are millions of people, many of them in Boston and London, who go to watch the marathoners. They would love to come and tour some of the places that produce the fastest men and women in the world. We do not sell that. There are also those who want to come and understand our rugby. I remember when the Government tried to ban graffiti on matatus . I went to see a friend of mine called Moha in Eastleigh, Section 3. He does what is called Moha Graffix. On the same day the Government announced the measure, there was a delegation from South Africa that had come to understand the matatu culture and how we put graffiti, art and music. The point is that all these things are just beneath our noses. It is up to us to wake up and decide to sell it as a product. Tourism is a huge income earner in a country where there is talent and beauty. Why do we not use the unique geographical location? Kenya is the most natural country and transport hub for the world. If today we had a duty free port at the airport, where people would do duty free shopping, there would be many flights into this country. Therefore, we would do conventional tourism around Bomas of Kenya, where we have more than 300 acres. Tourists would get onto a light rail and on their way to their hotels, they would see wildlife. No other country in the world can offer such things. However, we have fallen to the trap of mediocrity. We are trying to raise our tourism numbers from 1.4 million to 2 million. That is only but scratching at the surface. At a time when our greatest challenge as a country is job creation and employment, it is sad that when you go to some of our hotels--- Especially when we had issues of insecurity, most of the hotels were sustained by parliamentary delegations. We would hear those lovely people from the Coast and the Maasai say that whenever we would leave, they would not have a job for the next two or three months because it was the low season. Kenya is a country with beautiful weather all year round. Why do we have tourism seasons, yet countries that have terrible weather that a person cannot stand, have tourism all year through? I am glad that we are looking at this and now combining it with technology. We need to have e-tourism. On top of the virtual tours, we need to understand our consumer and their profile. This applies not only to those who come to Kenya, but also the potential visitors wherever they might be, so that we can then tailor-make our tourism offerings. We need a search engine optimization. If you google some of the things that we have in 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."
}