Technology firm Dei intends to increase local tourism in Kenya by 20 per cent before the end of 2018 through its social networking platform Dei places.
Launched in Nairobi yesterday, the platform helps subscribers to create and share places and memories with friends and families. It was first introduced in the market last year.
“There are over a billion places across the continent worth visiting but people do not know about them. Dei places is now here to help us market such places to the world. If well embraced, I am certain we will increase Kenyan local tourism by over 20 per cent,” The platforms business development manager Paul Bamutaze said.
The Ugandan based platform also aims to be beneficial to Africa tourism and travel stakeholders, as they can market their products, tour spots and activities.
It targets individuals, and organizations among other entities sharing information in pictures, videos and words about places.
The platform comes at a time when internet connectivity in the country is growing fast with internet users currently standing at 31.9 million and over 37 million mobile phone subscribers.
Since 2014, cross border movement across the region has grown at an average of 2 per cent annually according to data from East African Tourism platform.
In 2015, the number of regional tourist arrival within the regional member states was approximately 852, 000.
This is mainly attributed to education, entertainment and visiting friends and family.
“The figures above show that the biggest tourism earning opportunity in our region is by encouraging our people to inter-visit and explore each other,” Bamukaze said.