The Kilifi county government in partnership with the Tourism Ministry has embarked on registering private villas to collect tax.
Many private villas host tourists but do not pay tax.
County executive for Trade, Cooperative Development and Tourism Nahida Athman said they have registered more than 1000 villas in the past year.
Speaking in her office, Athman said currently many tourists prefer spending their holidays in villas as opposed to hotels.
"Villas and homes are rapidly gaining momentum as the preferred choice for tourists. Most of them like to live and stay with the local communities and learn their way of life," she said.
Nahida said the county is working with the Tourism Fund and the Tourism Regulatory Authority to register private villas since last year.
She said they managed to get the contacts of the villas through their online marketing platforms which they use to attract tourists.
The executive urged investors to establish villas to reap from the new home stay tourism.
"The villas and home stays will help both the county and national governments get more revenue from the tourism sector as the number of tourists staying in the villas is growing," she said.
