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{
    "id": 836650,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/836650/?format=api",
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    "content": "people are actually involved and not just participating passively and staring at animals or lying on the beach and reading a book. Then, what is attracted is the very old people. This is evident in our beaches and beach beds. It is very old people that come to Kenya. This group is very narrow. Yes, they have the money but they are very few. We have not invested in products and circuits because young people would not afford or be interested in flights. They want to go by road, engage in adventure tourism, backpack and do all these things that interact with nature. In essence, we have locked out the largest part. My colleagues talked about the big numbers going to France, Turkey and the United States of America (USA). It is because people can get around. This week we would like to visit some of these conservancies but just getting around has been so impossible that we must hire an aircraft. We have outpriced ourselves out of the market that would be young, vibrant, interactive and which will come back in the next decades. We have talked about diversification of products and selling and marketing. Again, we have not invested in the marketing of our tourism and the road network because you must get from point A to B. Even for those who can afford to fly, you find yourself having to go to an airstrip that is 200 kilometres away because the one closest to where you want to go is not functional. A case in point is recently when we went to Samburu County, we had to go to a different airstrip then go for two hours by road to get there. Again, we must look at the underlined determinants of improvement of our index which is the road network, infrastructure, marketing and security. Madam Temporary Speaker, One of the reasons why a place like France and others attract people is because people do not think about security and how to get from point A to B because the road networks are there. Neither do they have to think about middle men through whom they have to book their safari. They will just book on booking.com or whichever platform as Senator has put very well, using digital platforms. To come to Kenya, you have first to call Pollman’s Tours & Safaris and other middle men who have done a great job for this country. I do not want to belittle the work they have done but we need to open up the space so that people can book and make their own safaris. This is what the young people need. They just want to go online from the comfort of their couches, bedrooms or sitting rooms, quickly put together something online that is cheaper because it cuts out the middle service providers and vendors. We have not done all these things as a country. Our transport system even in our biggest city where 60 per cent of our gross Domestic Product (GDP) is, is wanting. For our tourists to go to Nairobi National Park, they have to go to a hotel that charges them US$50 for the van before they can pay the US$50 for the Park. In other places, you will pick a map from the airport, go on the platform, put in your details and a van will come and pick you from under a tree or you can just use public transport. In Geneva, people go to airports in public transport. For all the times that I have gone to Geneva up and down while working for the Red Cross, I have never used a taxi. From every hotel, there is a bus that you will book on a digital platform that will take you inside much more than the taxis would do. We need to look at tourism in the broader macro environment in which it operates; security, road infrastructure, transportation, communication and all the other facets of it. Even for local tourism or what we call domestic tourism, it is for very few of 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."
}