Potential Tourist Perceptions Of Kenya As A Tourist Destination
Abstract
It is a fact Kenya is the most popular safari destination in Africa. It is one of the countries that have a decent infrastructure and many tourist attraction sites that will make one interested t o goo back as many times as you can. The main reason why Kenya has continued to become a leading tourist destination is because of its numerous natural attractions despite the fact that it has had its worst times given the series of political related clashes that happen almost after every election year in the country.
In addition Kenya has been banned officially by many countries keen on advising there citizens on where and w here not they should visit if need be at any particular time. The continued increase in number of tourists being seen in Kenya therefore, even with the many travel advisories is an indication it is a key tourist destination.
Aims
The aim of the paper is to shade some light on the political landscape in Kenya, its electoral processes while at the same relating to the general effects it has on tourism. This relations mainly comes from the fact that tourism in Kenya has over the years been affected by political developments especially election related violence. The paper will also look a t other countries that have had challenges and violence resulting from disputed elections. All this is with a n aim of giving recommendations on how best Kenya can work out on this issue in future and thus market itself as one of the potential international tourist destinations.
Introduction
The country is located in Eastern Africa bordering the Indian Ocean and Somalia t o the East, Sudan and Ethiopia to the north, Uganda to the west and Tanzania to the south. Comparatively it is a country with a decent infrastructure and many resorts along the coastal part of the country. The capital city is Nairobi and the population is currently estimated at about 40 million people. It has a total of about 582,650sq km, its official language is English but they mainly speak Kiswahili and its is still acceptable as an official medium of communication. A greater number of the population is Christian with Protestants forming 45% protestant, 33 % catholic, 10% Muslims and other religions.
The Kenyan climate is generally sunny dry, hot but moist along the coast. The northern part of the country is dry and experiences less rains. The main rainy season in Kenya starts in March and ends in may. Other season begins in October to the end of the year. However, it is not easy to predict weather with certainty. The best times t o visit this country is mainly between January and March and between July and October. This is especially so if you are keen on visiting the Kenyan beaches and going for their tours popularly known as safaris (Mugabe, 2008).
The dry seasons are the best times to visit Kenya. The best time though to go for a safari in Kenya is during the great wildlife migration. This is the time a wide range of wildlife for example, wild beasts, zebras gnu’s cross the plains of Mara with carnivore animals such as the Lion trailing them. This happens any time between July to October of every year.
There are also other parks in Kenya, which can be visited best during the dry period. Besides the conducive weather during this period it is also good because during this dry period there is a scarcity of water and this makes the animals move in a larger numbers during this period as they sometimes have t o go for longer distances in search of the commodity. It is therefore easier to see them move unlike in situations whereby you have to wait until they emerge out of the forests or bushes during the rainy season. It takes time and you may therefore not enjoy it much. If you will not be, privileged to see them move the n you can wait for them in waterholes, lakes or rivers and they will certainly emerge.
To enjoy a beach holiday in Kenya one also needs t o visit during the dry period, although the coastal towns a re generally dry but moist during most parts of the year. A visit between December and March is highly recommended. These towns include Mombasa Malinda, Watamu among others. Each has a unique intriguing feature that always makes visitors go back as many times as possible. The coastal part of Kenya is predominantly a Muslim dominated region and going there as early as November can affect your vacation. Traveling in this area during Ramadan may not be a good option.
The other attractive part of Kenya to visit is Mount Kenya. It is a cold place throughout the year. The temperature can drop to as low as-10 Celsius (14 Fahrenheit) at night but the early mornings are relatively warm and dry. By midday clouds will have formed. It is always possible to do hiking in this mountain for most part of the year but it is good if one can avoid the rainy season. (Mugabe, 2008).
Northern Kenya is generally a dry area with sunshine in abundance. The average temperatures vary between 20-40 celsius. The best time to visit northern Kenya is in the months of June July august and December. It is majorly inhabited by the Samburu a tribe in Kenya and many other smaller tribes of Kenya, They are mainly pastoralists inhibiting a sparsely populated area but with a rugged natural beauty.
Despite the fact that is situated in the equator, Kenya is not a very hot place. The central part of Kenya is situated in a plateau the hat level very much regulated by the altitude which is comparatively high. The coastal areas are hotter but the place is made comfortable by the ocean breeze. The western part of the country is majorly hot and humid.
Kenyan politics is however the greatest hindrance to the success of tourism in this country. This is regrettably the case despite the country being the regional economic hub. There has been a report of massive corruption taking on especially within government institutions. The other challenge with the Kenyan economy is its reliance on some primary mainly agricultural based goods whose prices in the international markets have not been that good.
This therefore means the economy has not been doing so well but it continuous to register improvements with every passing year. Shortage of rains has also affected the country negatively in many ways. The people especially living in the northern part of the country become dependent on food aid. Secondly, Kenyan electricity and poor is very much dependent on water. It is therefore affected very much during the dry s peel. All this affect the economy negatively.
Background
Due to Kenya’s current and recent situations from the political side, the 2007 presidential elections caused an explosion of violence throughout the Kenyan state, it left at least 250 people dead (stated by the NPR website of world news), there was outrage throughout the city and the province was left treacherous and intended to last 3 days, sadly these events continued to rage over a 7 month period. This was devastating for the whole country as this crisis affected Kenya in many ways one of them being tourism. Many tourists were terrified to travel during these months of calamity and Kenya did see a downfall with the amounts of tourists they had coming in during that time. Statistics for the tourists inflow from the Kenya tourist board state that the tourist arrivals in during 2008 dropped by 34.7% from 873,000 to 565,000. Many countries rely on tourism as a source of income and a way for creating jobs for the locals, one of those countries being Kenya having a major source of their income from tourism, the second largest export earner after tea as stated on the Kenyan economy website. Kenya has a lot to offer in regards with tourism however it’s the way people see the country and what perceptions they have on it.
Research problem
The aim of this study is to find out exactly what perceptions people have on Kenya in general with all their situations and the tourism. Kenya does have a lot to offer for the tourism industry but they need the right methods of getting the tourists there and getting their view across of how beautiful the country really is aside from the poverty and the political problems. Some people may have the wrong perception on Kenya and are therefore reluctant in considering it as one of their future holiday destinations and I would like to research this topic and find out the truth as I am searching to hear what people really think and how they would feel considering it as a popular tourism destination.
Also to find out why the tourism in Kenya is not as popular as other destinations in Africa and see what it is that people would like to hear about Kenya in order to make them feel more open to choosing that as a suitable holiday destination.
Furthermore to see what people’s views are now as the situation of the elections has calmed down slightly over the recent years, to know whether people would feel safe coming into a country that had been under attack for a number of months.
Research Methodology:
A c ombination of methodologies will be used to understand what potential tourist think about Kenya. Key among this methods is the use of Questioners. I wasw privileged to meet a number of them but will sample a few questions and answers the gave. These is an except from one of the interviews:
Have you been to Kenya before on holiday?
“ yes, in fact a number of times”
I Why then you choose to visit Kenya
Kenya has several tourist destinations ”in fact it is not easy visiting all the places one would wish to”
What encouraged you to make the decision of visiting Kenya?
“I got the encouragement from friends who had been there before and seemed to really enjoy themselves every time the are there”
What views do you have on the 2007 post elections violence that happened in Kenya? It shocked me .
And why?
because t o a large extent Kenya has bee n a peaceful country.
Has this changed the way you see Kenya in general and as a tourist destination? No the situation stabalised almost immediately I will go back there once more
Do you think Kenya as a tourist destination is a safe country?
It will depend on how The Kenyan government will manage the issues that caused the violence after the last elections. Kenya s too need t o shun ethnicity. Other tourists whom I had the chance to interview said more less the same things about Kenya. Some were very categorical they will avoid Kenya in totality during election period. Journals and articles were also used to get more information about tourism in Kenya. The methods were beneficial because they have more interviews and indebt knowledge mainly from experiences of those who have been to the country. Besides the country’s tourist managers have contributed in the writing of these articles and journals. They shade a lot of light on the trend and the current situation in Kenyan Tourism.
The trend in Kenyan politics
Just like the colonialists the postcolonial Kenyan leaders decided to divide (using propaganda mainly) those communities that were perceived as troublesome and questioned the government of the day on various issues affecting it. The provincial administration is the tool used mainly by governments starting with the same colonialists, to manipulate electoral outcome. Power s haring and economic injustices were therefore inherited from the colonialists especially in the case of Kenya.
The end of colonial period was characterized by a system of highly discriminatory governments that mainly minded the business of the people from where the president of the day originally came from. This could be seen in situations where a loan is being sought or in accessibility of government related jobs. Those from then particular community a president hailed from could access more jobs than other tribes and this continued ton poison thee public even more.
Funnily, this is a situation that even those around the presidency could not observe and if they did never took caution to advise their masters on the dangers of heir vices. In other words, Kenyans have never taken time to do a soul search on the exact causes of the violence they go through almost after every election. The 1997 elections also saw a wide spread of violence which did affect tourism though not to the 2008 magnititute of violence. The Saba Saba demonstrations organized by the illegal political parties were the cause of this violence. The manner in which the government reacted to this violence even made the situation even worse (Mugabe, 2008).
Besides affecting tourism, the violence caused massive displacement of some Kenyan communities even in areas that tourists frequented in the country for example some parts of western Kenya and the Rift valley provinces in the country. The government in all the cases had the machinery to deal with this kind of violence but it choose to leave it that way as a way of discouraging vote r turn out in some regions in the country during the election time.
Most of these election related violence became a predictable phenomena raising more questions why nothing was done to avert the violence that occurred in the year 2008. The other reason the government had to be keen on electoral violence because of the manner in which it affects the economy generally. It is always accompanied by closure of leading tourist hotels in the regions prone to violence, high-level corruption and leaves the country in a low financial capability. (Dieke, 2008)
In spite of the fact that Kenya always went into some violence during its time of elections, has largely remained a peaceful country in a region that has been characterized by a lot of political instability. Somalia to the east of the country has been at war for the last two decades Sudan prior to the peace deal reached in 2011 had been through war f or more than four decades. It ironical that despite the fact that it goes through minor conflicts itself it is behind the signed peace deal between southern Sudan and there northern counterparts which led to the birth of the Republic of southern Sudan.
They had been at were amongst themselves ever since attaining independence in 1956. Uganda Eritrea and Ethiopia have been through at least a form of civil war. Kenya had never been through a civil war. The violence witnessed in Kenya is mainly because of politically related motives or differences in ideology. The country remained a safe haven for refugees fleeing from all this neighboring countries. Kenya hosts one of the largest refugee camps in the world- Kakuma.
The other reason Kenya has gone through election related violence ids its inability to deal with massive unemployment mostly youths who are out of colleges are idle with no jobs yet they understand and are aware of serious corruption going on among the leaders who are suppose to be their saviors during such time. This causes some disappointments with governments. This youths are also prone t o manipulations and wrong advices by the same politicians who should be guiding them on how to go about solving the unemployment situation which instead of solving poverty problem in the country contributes even more to it.
Kenya has been an economic powerhouse in the horn of African region since independence though the frequent political unrests demeaned the prospects and the ability of the country to be a leading example and even perform much better. The country enjoys a much positive trade balance with its neighbors and generally in the region. The county’s currency( Kenyan Shilling) is the most sought after currency because of its strength. It exports more to their neighboring countries and has a larger group of middle class compared to any other country in the region. This therefore means it is a country with a lot of potential to further grow and even enhance its tourism sector, the more if it can deal with the few cases of political violence, which depict the country negatively, inter nationally.
The 2008 election violence came as a surprise because no one expected any civil unrest in Kenya of the magnitude witnessed. About 1300 people lost their lives and a lot more where displaced from their homes. This was scary given the fact that it has been the only source of hope among its neighbors and in the region generally.
The electoral processes in Kenya has given even the Kenyan political elite a challenge especially in trying to institutionalize government fundamentals given the reaction by tribal groupings on almost evry issue raised and t hat could go a long way in improving the state of affairs. The political leadership and governance has always been accused of frauds during elections, socio-economic inequality and regional political and economic inequalities.
The 2008 election violence, that almost completely broke the Unity that to a big extent had been enjoyed in Kenya, was caused by reported irregularities during its elections December 2007. It was also unimaginable to see the citizens of a country that was always home to refugees fleeing their own countries to have them hosed in poorer neighboring countries. The electoral results divided Kenya n along tribal lines with the tribes that supported the then president Mwai Kibaki on one side and those tribes that had supported Mr Raila Odinga on the other. There were other candidates and parties that had participate in the elections but the major ones were those led by this two. Foreign investors lost confidence in the country and tourism sunk very low.
The economic confidence was drastically reduced from 7% to 5%. This meant that those who had prepared to begin business during that period in Kenya shelved the plans till they were sure the violence will not affect their interests. There was already a doubt of whether there was enough security to guarantee the safety of their businesses. The civil violence caused a loss of one billion dollars.
The market capitalization was cut down by quit some billions. It used to trade an average of 851 billion but was reduced to about 810 billion during the first day of business after. Apart from tourism, most sectors were affected by the violence. Horticultural produce and the transport industry were also hit.
Seaport activities were very much affected. This is because the workers avoided coming to work for the fear of being victims. The routes leading to various workplaces were also blocked by rioting youth who made sure no vehicles passed without being inspected. The damage caused during the violence no doubt will take Kenya a long period to fully recover.
Imported and exported cargo were not attended to on tile and this meant a loss time or resources that could be spent in doing something else that could be more constructive. Kenyans were busy fighting on the streets. The United kingdom and the United states advised its citizens not to visit Kenya. This advice seemed to have been heeded by all the citizens even of countries whose governments didn’t officially issue a travel advisory, because there were no visitors to Kenya during the periods Kenya ns were fighting.
This is because no one is interested with this kind of ugly scenes in any country. There were many other town s and places in Kenya that were peaceful but just because the country’s image was already tainted no one could there visit. In fact, the few who were holidaying fount the fastest way out of the country immediately the violence were reported. This should be lesson enough for Kenya or citizens of any country to always be ambassadors of peace because going to war is an expensive under taking and diplomacy is the best way to resolve conflicts.
The violence caused a widespread scarcity of commodities in many areas. Ugandans were also affected in to a big extent by the violence in Kenya. Ugandan imports mainly come through the port of Mombasa in coastal part of Kenya and that meant a serious delay of import delivery. This was even made worse for this neighbor because it was believed that the Ugandan government supported president Kibaki’s leadership and holding to power. The railway transport system connecting Kenya and Uganda was cut off by rioting youth.
Tourism was affected for quite some months because given its history m any tourists w ho arte aware of Kenya political and electoral history had even kept away from the country way before campaign for the electoral positions were started. By the time the elections were officially began the tourist visits were already very law. The travel advisories by countries jus worsened a situation that was already in a bad state. ( Vasagar, 2008).
The all-Eastern African region was affected one way or the other because of the fighting that was going on in Kenya. Notably affected though was the tourism sector. It is a sensitive sector which is very much reliant in the state of political situation in a country. Any signs of disharmony in a country, even without a travel advisory in a country is enough to make tourists revise their tour plans.
This is mainly because tourism is a secondary need or a leisurely activity which despite the fact that it could benefit the visited places or counties can easily be stopped. Secondly travel plans can be changed any time given enough evidence that the places a tourist are destined to has been hit by violence or there is evidence that it is not a conducive place to tour for any other reason.
Thirdly, there have been reliable travel and tour companies who are very keen on events on tourism and tourist destinations all around the world. These tourist companies therefore find it there responsibility to gather much information as possible on the goings on in various parts of the world, look at the trends and the history of countries and therefore be in a position to advice their clients accordingly. The reputation done on the Kenyan economy was huge. (Omolo, 2002).
Apart from elections, terrorist activities have also had an effect on the Kenyan tourism sector. The 1998 terrorist bombing in Nairobi made tourists to change their travel plans, at least for that year. One advantage that Kenya has had as a country is that the tourism sector does not suffer a ,prolonged period of tourism sector failure, The tourists start visiting immediately a situation that has been reported calms down. This is therefore an indicator that if Kenya could work on long lasting peace, its electoral institutions and fight terrorism affectively it will be a leading tourist destination and its economy will not be affected much negatively as has been the situation in the past.
The other challenge that still faces Kenyan tourism is its inability to diversify to other tourist attraction features and destinations. Currently it is mainly the safaris and beach visits that are popular in Kenya. The country has a lot more to offer if only I could concentrate and get competent managers t o run its tourism industry. Kenya has never lacked the skills to run and improve its tourist sector. Just like other sectors in the Kenyan government or institutions, tourism ministry has been largely affected with the risen case involving a top official of the Kenya tourism board.
Tourism in Kenya has continued to be the second in income earnings for Kenya after agriculture despite the fact that it has been negatively affected severely by politics, terrorism or just mismanagement by those who should be helping it grow further. It is the best country to visit in East Africa when it comes to beach and wildlife tours. Internationally it is the third best country to visit in the Sub-Saharan Africa after South Africa and Mauritius. Nairobi the capital city hosts the largest airport in the eastern African region.
The situation of Kenyan tourism needs to be looked at critically and the concerns addressed because it is a simple task fixing it given the fact that the causes of its failures in the past are known. Politics and electoral systems, for example, have to be corrected, The institutions that handle elections need to be further enhanced to gain the confidence of Kenyans and international community. Secondly the Kenyan courts which should be an avenue through which cases of electoral malpractices and other political disputes should be handled has never been a trusted institution even by Kenyans themselves. This makes it difficult for these institutions to be trusted by the international l development partners as well. Corruption remains a major impediment of Kenyan development and could continue to hinder developments in Kenya in many ways if it is not conclusively addressed.
In the last election, for instance, the electoral results failed to reflect the wishes of most Kenyans and that is an indicator that the institution entrusted with the mandate to facilitate the country’s leaders had failed in its job and needed to be completely overhauled. Unless this is d one national unity will continue to be a dream not only in Kenya but in many other developing countries. The country should address ethnic injustices and historical grievances t hat ma y have made Kenyans harbor any ill feelings against each other especially on tribal lines (Omolo, 2002).
The country needs t o improve its governance structures and improve on the provincial administration. It should make use of the recently passed laws which have been praised internationally has a document that if followed and adhered to it w ill change Kenya and Kenyan image for the better. (Dieke, 2008)
It is a fact the political unrests that took place in Kenya derailed tourism. Most companies that run tours and travel companies have never closed businesses in Kenya even during the period of violence itself. Most of them did sent a large group of tourists to Kenya immediately after the post election violence. This should thus inform you that the tourist industry in Kenya is promising given its resilience to the past incidence of violence or success despite the many travel advisories issued by governments especially the western countries. ( Vasagar, 2008).
Clients started visiting Kenya immediately after the violence ended. Ebright connie the owner of owner of ebright travel in California acknowledged that though the post election violence in Kenya made them to stop sending clients there t hey resumed almost immediately the violence ended, with many clients who had suspended t heir trips expressing their interests in going back to that country. By the end of 2007 Kenyan tourist figures for the year were almost hitting a 2million mark. However, has a result of the violence the end of he following year saw about 801 691 tourists visiting. These figures have since been increasing.
The immediate former Minister of tourism in Kenya was in the forefront to ensure that the sector gets back to its normal position . This was seen in the manner in which he sacked any official that the law allowed him to in the event that they were seen to be either r, incompetent, corrupt, serving individual, or political objectives.
The ministry mainly runs through the mandate of Kenyan tourism Board which tries to promote the whole of eastern Africa’s a tourist destination. This is a task that became very much timely given the events of 2007 post election violence.
Lacti de sausa, the general manager of Rhino safaris says back then, before the violence they had put in place all their of investments in anticipation of even a better 2008 in as far as tourism is concerned, this did not happen because the violence brought everything to a standstill at last for a few months.
He says having passed through the 2005 referendum peacefully Kenya was expected to speed up in economic progress and tourism as expected to improve further. De sausu argues that besides the election violence and the global economic crisis that took place in 2008, Kenya’s failure e to market itself abroad is also a big contributor to the situation of Kenyan tourism today.
No tourist was hurt by the post election violence in Kenya, the country has bounced back to a peaceful state it used to be. It remains a very hospitable country and welcomes many people annually. The worst hit by the violence in the industry are mainly waiters, drivers bartenders and guides who lost their jobs during this period. By the end of 2010 however most lodges and resorts were fully booked and that is an indicator that the Kenyan tourism was getting back to its normal state.
Most tourists have admitted that they find the country more hospitable has ever even after the violence. The ever-rising costs and bookings for accommodation is an indicator that tourism in Kenya is back. Kenya’s friendly attitude towards foreigners is also a contributing factor to the bouncing back of tourism in Kenya.
Kenya again will be going to elections the end of this year or early the coming year. This means more anxiety as to how the situation is going to be politically and how it will once again affect tourism. To avoid this anxiety the Kenya Association of Hotel Keepersand Caterers has asked the government to make clear the election dates and put in place measures that are going to sustain tourism through the campaigning period through the voting and result announcements. The anxiety will be avoided and the other players in the tourism business can go on with their activities without any worries.
This will also enable the members of here association to make plans for their businesses. A similar call was made by The Alliance of Private Sector, which called on the government to commit itself t o the provision of security and ensuring that their businesses remained safe. These two associations are just a small number that have come in solidarity with many others who she the same believe on politics, tourism and investments (Omolo, 2002)
Besides this plea the associations has also asked does participating I n the setting of election dates t o avoid those months when tourism should be picking up for example June to August and early month and between January and march of any year. This will assist them avoid the losses associated with elections and the low client turn out during election period.
Literature ReviewLessons learned elections in Kenya and elsewhere
The Center for International Peace and Operations was formed to improve civilian prevention capacities by the Federal German Government, actively participated in finding a solution to this election related violence in developing countries. The high-level seminar held in Ghana with the aim of exploring the particular issues that have caused election violence in some African countries. The issues that have to be addressed in the countries after election related violence. The second objective was to discuss the r ole of other countries in the search of lasting peace in countries that had been affected by election related violence. The meeting, by discussing this issues was in essence looking for long term measures to end election violence especially in African countries t hat had witnessed too much violence. (Dieke, 2008)
The choice of electoral systems is one big step towards deciding between a successful and a failed election. The electoral process has t o be very transparent and should assist in ending the impunity that ha become synonymous to elections especially in third world countries. The electoral system I any u c country has to be transparent to enable the electoral body overcome the challenges that come with elections.
The members who participate in these elections or those who are suppose to be vetted and their behavior established. T
