Revive Tourism In East Africa

The East African Community (EAC) has come up with a grand plan to market tourism in the bloc in new recovery plans.

Operators within the EAC bloc on Wednesday said that they will embark on marketing the region as a top tourist destination as respective governments craft recovery plans for their tourism sectors.

EAC member states include Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda, South Sudan and Burundi.

In the marketing strategy, there will be enticing travel and tour packages by different tourism companies in East Africa.

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The packages will feature affordable airfare, popular tourist sites and accommodation facilities at cheap rates, Fred Odek, the outgoing chairperson of the East Africa Tourism Platform (EATP), a grouping of private tourism firms in the region told AA.

EATP said that move will enable tourism operators to handle challenges dogging the sector as a result of COVID-19 pandemic which struck in March.

The aim is to get back the sector to its previous levels before the virus hit the nation.

When the pandemic hit in March, tourism activities were grounded thereby affecting the flow of cash from this lucrative sector that is a major forex earner for most EAC member states.

A report by the East Africa Business Council indicates that the tourism sector was projected to have a 92% reduction in cash flows.

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Tourism contributes an average of 8.1% to the EAC bloc’s GDP, 17.2% to export earnings, and accounted for 7.1% of employment in the region, the report said.

So far, Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda and Tanzania have been granted the World Travel and Tourism Council’s health and safety approval which designates the four EAC states as safe travel destinations.