Kenya Tourism Bill 2010 Petition

It is not easy to penetrate the Kenya;s tourism value chain. The big brothers in the industry have seen to it that no stranger penetrates the chain. They use all the means (scotch earth tactics) to lock out newcomers. One of the strategic schemes they use is to control the industries umbrella organizations and smother any upcoming institution by locking them out of the bugger Tourism Federation. I have a personal experience in this and I tell you it is never the best experience anyway.

Key individuals in the industry demonize personalities and institutions without caring to know the individual/institutions or what their intention is. They buy-in anything for the face value of it as long as it is from the privileged club.
The shear mention of the word community empowerment sends shivers through the spines of a few who have made their fortunes and continue to rake-in handsome returns from community land. This individuals will trivialize anything community and often brag that they are community too by extension.

To maintain the status quo, they guard the tourism value chain so jealously. The big players make it impossible for any Mwnananchi without patronage from within themselves or from political powers that be, to penetrate the chain. They will own, chains of hotels, have tour companies to bring them tourists, have tour vehicles, farms to grow crops and rear poultry etc for their hotels, have chattered aeroplanes all and everything. In this case therefore, tourism might be the only industry that allows manufactures to be producers, wholesalers, retailers etc.

It’s because of the above scenario that communities in tourism area are powered that their colleagues from non tourism area. Milk farmer for instance are not allowed by low to run a milk processing diary, nor the diary allowed by law to retail the products and so on giving every player at the milk value chain an opportunity to specialize and make a living out of it.

It is for this very reason that we ask Kenyans to sign the petition and unlock the tourism fortunes to Kenyans.