Wildlife and Tourism Cabinet Secretary Peninah Malonza has said she wants to focus more on domestic and regional tourism as she moves to revamp the sector.
Malonza said though the industry has been moving in an upward trajectory since the Covid-19 pandemic, it is yet to get back to where it was in 2019.
"Going forward, we are going to focus more on domestic and regional tourism promotions," she said.
While giving the 2022 Tourism Performance Report on Wednesday, Malonza said more tourists from African countries have been visiting Kenya.
"We are going to focus on regional and domestic tourism in the country given that we have seen that out of the 30 source tourist markets, African countries are coming in," Malonza said.
The CS also plans to diversify the tourism products the country has to offer.
"We are also going to develop and diversify our products. We are looking at the areas of fruits, eco-tourism, sports, adventure tourism and gastronomy," she said.
Malonza said that even though gastronomy has not been explored as much in the country, other countries are earning from it.
"In these performing countries, gastronomy is the in thing," Malonza said.
She said gastronomy is not Greek that people should fear as it simply touches on the local foods and cuisines the country has to offer.
"The good Kenyan food, we need to explore it, it is an area that we can shine," Malonza said.
Malonza said the ministry also plans to work on agri-tourism and agrotourism.
She said the ministry will work in agriculture sectors in tea plantations, and coffee plantations to ensure as they move to revamp tourism.
"We will also work with the 47 counties to ensure we develop tourists' circuits in these counties, and basically to enhance cooperation in the counties," Malonza said.
She said the cooperation with the counties will help spot any tourism attraction sites within the counties.
Malonza also plans to work with the counties in the development of cultural infrastructure in the counties.
"Going forward, we are going to do a lot of promotion of Meeting Incentives Conventions and Exhibition Centres (MICE) festivals and events to enhance the capacity of hosting," she said.
She said the country can hold big international events and conferences but is limited due to inadequate convention centres.
The CS said more convention centres will be built to allow the country to host international meetings.
Malonza said last year, tourists who came in for conferences and business meetings were the third highest after those that came in for holidays and to visit family and friends.
"We are also going to digitise all our tourism operations. This will include travel, revenue collection as well as marketing," the CS said.
She said digital marketing of tourism will help capture the young generation who are tech savvy.
Malonza will also scale up the capacity building of the industry by improving tourism schools such as the Kenya Utalii college.
