Kenya to target tourism

The Kenyan government has apparently decided firmly that reviving its tourism sector is the best way to indirectly benefit the rest of the economy, and to that end, the President has authorised the creation of a state-owned corporation with KSH 300 million to promote tourism and investment in the country.

After the violence that broke out earlier this year following the elections, the Kenyan government has been steadily working to revive their tourism industry. Recent efforts by the government seem to indicate that their plan is to use tourism as a kind of gateway industry to bring back other sectors of the economy to life. The logic is that with more tourist dollar coming into the country, more investment dollars will follow.

President Mwai Kibaki has recently created a new corporation run by the state named Brand Kenya. The purpose of the corporation is to restore the country's image and market the nation to the rest of the world. One of the earliest targets of tourism efforts will be Russian tourists who are just starting to become an important target market.

Kenya is in need of some sort of image-handling as their reputation was considerably damaged after the two months of violence following the presidential vote. Foreign investors and property analysts are particularly interested in the corporation and its efforts because of its possible effectiveness at reviving the Kenyan property market. Brand Kenya's vision is to, "Harness the hard work, warmth and spirit of our people to become a just and prosperous nation that leads Africa's socio-economic and cultural emergence."

However, beyond the obligatory forward looking statements presented by Brand Kenya, the new corporation will actually take on an important role in the development of the economy. It will be the primary promoter of all industry sectors and will coordinate any campaigns and efforts between other groups which were created earlier such as the Kenya Tourism Board.

Kenya is obviously taking a cue from the success that South Africa has experienced with their own brand initiative and their state run corporation, The International Marketing Council of South Africa (IMC).

In East Africa, nations such as Tanzania and Uganda are also looking into implementing and funding their own national branding efforts.

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