Tourism stakeholders in Lamu are calling for the re-invention of festivals as a tool to market county to the global world.
Once branded an "Island of festivals", Lamu island would host close to 10 festivals annually, which saw the region attract throngs of local and international tourists to witness the unique presentations of the various festivals.
The festivals included Eid-Ul-Adhar, Maulidi festival, food and expo festival, Lamu fishing competition, Lamu art festival, The Lamu cultural festival, Lamu yoga festival, the kite festival, Shella hat contest and the Lamu painters festival.
All of these festivals would be conducted in different months and have been known to attract thousands of tourists and visitors to witness and experience the unique feeling that comes with each of them.
Each festival would attract over 30,000 tourists and visitors to Lamu according the Lamu Tourism Association.
The festivals which came into force around 2014, were a key force in propelling the tourism sector back to its feet shortly after Lamu witnessed the brunt of terror attacks in the same year which saw tourist numbers dwindle.
In recent times however, and most notably since 2017, the festivals have failed to take place, a move that has affected the sector once more.
Stakeholders have called on the county and national government to help revive the festivals to enable the region reap the most benefit from the sector.
Tourism is among the major income earners for Lamu county followed by fishing and mangrove logging.
Lamu Tourism Association chairperson Ghalib Alwy said the festivals had been successful in luring back tourists who had been scared away by terror attacks.
Alwy questioned why the festivals had been left to fizzle out despite the obvious role they had played in putting Lamu on the global map.
“The festivals were instrumental in breathing life back into the tourism sector after the attacks of 2014 and we were in a good place. Now, they are no more. Let the county government make plans to bring them back,” Alwy said.
Lamu island hotelier and restaurateur Mohamed Athman said the festivals had been key in restoring the confidence of tourists in Lamu county as a whole and as such need to revive them.
“They were not just normal festivals. Each one was crucial in its own way and played a great role in reviving the tourism sector. The region has benefitted a lot from them. Why the county government doesn’t support them anymore, we don’t know,” Athman said.
Tourism executive Josephat Musembi said there were plans to reintroduce the festivals as part of a wider campaign to market Lamu’s tourism to the world.
Musembi announced the initiation of a digital marketing campaign aimed at attracting inbound visitors to Lamu.
He said the Covid-19 pandemic had created an unprecedented crisis for the county tourism industry, crushing the supporting food and service sectors that depend on tourism for employment and incomes.
He said a special tourism management plan on how best the region can be marketed both domestically and internationally has been formulated, and that a series of online advertisement is also ongoing to link up the available Lamu tourist attraction sites to international markets.
-Edited by SKanyara
