Kenya Tourism Bill 2010 Petition

Tourism plays a very important role in Kenyan economy as the leading foreign exchange earner for the country. It accounts for 13.3% of gross domestic product (GDP), 14.7% of foreign exchange earnings and generates 138,000 jobs directly and 360,000 jobs indirectly. As a sector, tourism has a multiplier effect to the other sectors of the economy like transport, agriculture etc.

It is now widely appreciated that though the tourism industry is rapidly growing and having a positive economic impact nationally, the same impact has not been adequately translated to the same regions where tourism takes place. In some of the prominent tourist attraction Districts like Narok, Kajiado, Trans Mara, Kwale, Kilifi, Lamu, Taita Taveta, Malindi etc. poverty levels are higher than the national poverty indexes/levels with Kwale, Kilifi and Malindi having absolute poverty prevalence at over 75% yet on aggregate, they account for over 60% of tourist beds in Kenya.

The question therefore that communities involved in tourism and other key stakeholders are struggling to appreciate is; how to translate the nation (and District) tourism economic impact into local economic development and consequently into sustainable livelihoods.

The Tourism Bill 2010 was one of the best tool to address to this inequalities by creating provisions for wider and meaningful participation of Kenyan communities in tourism and gain meaningful returns to turn around their livelihoods and not to wallow in abject poverty in the land of plenty. The previous Tourism policies have subscribed to the old school of thought that saw tourism as just travel and leisure and as a source of foreign exchange for the government. This thinking is outdated as the world through the auspices of the United Nation World Tourism Organization, has over the last decade tried to showcase how tourism is a tool that developing countries can use to overcome the gretest challenge of our time; Poverty and contribute to the attainment of the Millennium Development Goals(MDG's).

South Africa is a classical example of a country that used its policies to integrate communities (previously marginalized groups)into tourism for them to own a piece of tourism industry and to enjoy it fruits.

Kenya can not afford to be out of sync/tune with the global trends and best practices that empowers its people to own and gain meaningfully from tourism just to please a few elitist who have all along selfishly safeguarded the fruits of tourism for themselves and their foreign cronies and thereby making our beloved Kenya the most unequal society in the world. The social inequalities brought about by tourism was the cause of the infamous 1997 Likoni Clashes that brought the tourism to its knees for close to six years besides the fact that the 2007 (ten years later), post election violence that nearly brought our country to precipice was fueled by social inequalities among others.

The time to act is now... sign the petition and circulate to as many of your friends and family as possible.