The Government has been urged to review its tourism strategy by offering high-quality products at affordable rates to compete with the global market and attract more German tourists to the country.
Delayed expansion of the Malindi International airport has also been cited as a bottleneck to the growth of tourism especially in Malindi since international tourists have complained that charter flights cannot land in Malindi direct from European countries due to a shorter runway.
German Ambassador to Kenya Sebastian Groth said that German tour operators have been complaining about increased park fees and high costs for German tourists, making it difficult for them to come in large numbers.
Speaking at the Malindi Museum during the closing ceremony of a Month-long exhibition ceremony to celebrate 60 years of friendship and cooperation between Kenya and Germany he said that even though Kenya was a beautiful country they were competing with other African and global tourism destinations which required them to set up high-quality standards and affordable rates.
“Tourism is a worldwide business and Kenya must realize that it is competing a lot of other destinations not only in Africa but across the world and even if Kenya is one of the most beautiful countries in the world has got so many things to offer, it is a very tough competition and you only can survive in this tough competition when you offer high quality for an affordable cost,” he said.
He said that recently some of the costs were increased too much for German tourists such as park fees and flights which is general all over.
“So the complaints that we get from German tour operators is that some of the costs for German tourists also increased to much recently, the fees for the parks for example, also flights are getting more expensive but this is beyond Kenya and the economy in Europe is not doing so well and people have less budgets for travel,” he said.
Groth added that for Kenya to realize the old good times of the 70s and 80s during which there were high German tourism numbers they have to do a lot of homework since they are competing with other markets such as Zanzibar, Namibia, South Africa and the global tourism at large.
“I think to reconnect to the rich history of the German tourism of the 70s and 80s a lot of homework has to be done,” he said.
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On the partnership with National Museums of Kenya and reconnecting the rich history between the two countries he said Germany was working on a plan to bring back human remains to Kenya.
In Lamu, he said that they also have a big project about ancient history that includes artwork adding that in Naironbi9 the Museum is in consultation to do more activities for the future.
“We have a very strong partnership between Germany and the NMK and so we are working on several projects among them bringing back human remains to Kenya,” he added.
Present during the ceremony was Malindi Member of Parliament Amina Mnyazi, and Kilifi Deputy Governor Flora Chibule. Fredrick Manthi- Director of Antiquities, Sites and Monuments at NMK, Malindi Museum curator Dorris Kamuye together with the Malindi community were also present.
The MP said that German tourists used to come in large numbers in the 70s and 80s but indeed the numbers have gone down and promised to follow up on the issue to ensure the government can rectify the problems leading to the low attraction of tourists so a to bring back the tourists in large numbers.
She cited the delayed expansion of Malindi airport as one of the hinderances of growth in the area in terms of tourism.
“The German ambassador has talked about the challenges that are there that are blocking tourism potential and we have agreed to help iron them out. In our conversations with him, the Malindi airport expansion was discussed and we are calling on the national government to resolve land ownership issues so that the runway can be expanded. The Italian government is very to fund the expansion,” she said.
Mnyazi thanked the German ambassador for gracing the event saying that the partnership between Kenya and Germany will continue to thrive and urged residents to position themselves for job opportunities in Germany.
“After President Ruto signed a labour agreement with Germany, we will follow it up so that our people can also get the opportunity to work in Germany or in German companies. We have people in the blue economy and that is where we are going to major in,” said Ms Mnyazi.
Dr Manthi on his part thanked Germany for the cooperation saying that many NMK staff had gained education and knowledge of conservation in Germany.
“A lot of us at the NMK have gone to school in Germany, we have trained in German and we have wonderful projects and programs that we run with our partner in German and we celebrate the cooperation today,” said Dr Manthi.
The Deputy Governor said that efforts by the German government and other partners in preserving some monuments had raised the bar with two sites being recognized as World Heritage sites such as the Arabuko Sokoke forest and the Gedi Ruins in Watamu.
“We are here because the Germans in terms of culture have really helped us preserve our heritage sites like the Malindi House of Columns and in Rabai they renovated the Dr Kraph Museum and there are many other areas of cooperation that we are undertaking with them to ensure that citizens of Kenya and German benefit,” said Chibule.
By Nehemiah Okwembah
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