Tourism Cabinet Secretary Peninah Malonza survived by the teeth after MPs voted to overturn the recommendation to reject her nomination but she must now contend with a full in-tray.
Stakeholders are keenly watching how Malonza will deal with issues like the open skies policies that is being advocated for, to increase international numbers to the coast region.
She skirted the question duding her vetting.
Before the Covid-19 outbreak in March 2020, Mombasa received Qatar Airways five times a week, Turkish Airlines seven times and Rwandair three times.
Currently, Moi International Airport only receives one scheduled flight- Ethiopia Airline, which flies daily to the region.
After Covid-19, the government restricted direct international commercial flights to Mombasa, as it failed to renew the airlines’ licenses in a move seen to protect struggling loss-making national carrier, Kenya Airways.
Coast hoteliers and travel agencies are advocating for open skies policies, which could put the new tourism CS under pressure to support recovery in the region.
According to Pollman's group operations director and seasoned hotelier Mohammed Hersi, the national government "must allow more scheduled flights to the region."
Veteran hotelier and CEO of Wells Corporate and Holiday Travel (agency) Wafula Waswa noted that the region has the ability to receive up to 3,000 international visitors every day, if the skies are opened.
“Having to first land at JKIA then connect to the coast is discouraging many international tourists,”Waswa told the Star on telephone.
Asked on the subject during her vetting at Parliament, Malonza instead said she will be keen on charter flights to the coast.
“I will be working with the transport ministry to pursue reinstating charter planes flying direct to Mombasa,” Malonza said.
It costs at least $1 million (Sh121.3 million) to do one charter flight to Mombasa, a private sector business that is also based on availability of tourist numbers.
Currently, at least two charters- German low-cost carrier Eurowings and Condor are flying directly from Europe where about 40 per cent of travellers are destined for Mombasa with the rest proceeding to Zanzibar.
Malonza will be tasked with rebranding and repositioning Kenya for full post Covid-recovery, with eyes on how she will workout major campaigns with the ministry having one of the meagre budget allocations.
The ministry has an allocation of Sh5 billion in the current financial year, most of it going into recurrent expenditure.
“Slim budget for marketing has been a challenge,” Malonza noted during her vetting.
She is altogether expected to spearhead the sector into realising annual earnings of at least Sh396.1 billion from international tourist arrivals in the next two years.
This year, receipts are projected to grow by 81 per cent to Sh265.4 billion, as international arrivals increase to 1.4 million, from 870, 467 recorded last year.
This is expected to further grow 35 per cent to Sh359.1 billion next year, and then the projected Sh396.1 billion the year after.
In 2024, Kenya is expected to receive the highest number ever on international tourists, projected at 2,200,448, up from 1,987, 369 next year.
To drive numbers, Malonza said she will be keen on partnership with international media platforms and digital marketing, amid sector policy implementation.
She also plans to collaborate with the Foreign Affairs ministry to set up tourism desks in foreign missions to help market the country.
"I want to assure you that I will quickly internalise the policies and legislation on tourism wildlife and heritage. I want to assure that i will raise the numbers from the current below a million as we recover, to the dream of this country (10 million),” she said.
Malonza is also faced with the task of addressing the persistent human-wildlife conflict in communities living near parks and reserves, with compensation being a thorny issue.
She pledged to ensure automation of systems to increase revenue collections.
To promote domestic tourism, the CS (nominee) she intends to collaborate with industry players and counties, with initiatives such as use of local radio stations to encourage travel among locals.
Malonza officially took over from long-serving CS Najib Balala last week, promising to align to the new operating environment and seek quick wins that will put the tourism sector on track.
"Each market segment requires tourism experiences that will suit them” she said citing millennials as a segment to watch, “Am dedicated to serve Kenyans and improve the Ministry of Tourism.”
Poor policy execution has been termed a problem for the tourism sector in the country, which is tasked with addressing.
Kenya has in the past 12 years formulated at least eight policy papers and strategies targeting to grow the sector, with little growth realised.
