The industry held a stakeholders forum at the Intercontinental hotel under the banner of KTF.

The meeting was attended by the Deputy High Commissioners of the UK and France, HE John Martin and HE Emmanuel Renaud (on invitation by Serena MD Mahmud Janmohamed). Both Deputy High Commissioners addressed the plenary and took questions at an interactive session thereafter. They explained the background of the travel advisories and shared some very insightful thoughts as to how we can address the revision as an industry. It is not an easy feat but can well be achieved with the necessary interventions.

Also in attendance was KTB MD Muriithi Ndegwa with the entire KTB top management who took us through the recovery efforts so far and the key areas of focus in the short term. This was well received and the private sector team that is assisting KTB with the recovery plan was also introduced to the plenary. The team consist of Jimmi Kariuki (Sarova Hotels), David Stogdale, Dr. Mohanjeet Brar (Porini Camps and Gamewatchers), Minaz Manji (Twiga Tours), Fred Kaigua, Agatha Juma and yours truly.

The KTF Chairman, Lucy Karume then  gave a brief of the advocacy efforts that have so far been put in place, all our media engagements, the meeting yesterday with the Head of State and the proposals that will be discussed in a follow up meeting tomorrow with the Head of State. A meeting will also be held with the media owners as part of the recovery efforts.

 KAHC Chairman JS Vohra then took the podium and presented the proposed way forward after briefing the plenary the he had arranged a meeting with the Governors of all 6 Coast Counties on the same day before they (the Governors) held their summit meeting with the President. The Governors helped push the tourism agenda and this is what resulted in the stakeholder meeting with the President.

He then presented a short and long term plan for KTF’s advocacy agenda which will be shared shortly. This plan requires funding to the level of Ksh. 14 Million in the short term while a long term proposal of charging a levy of US $ 2.50 per guest was mooted to commence in Jan 2014. The modalities for the long term plan will be ironed out then shared with you.

For the short term plan, members were asked to make pledges which went down very well with pledges being received from individuals, companies and the associations. KATO committed to raising Ksh. 7.5 Million while KAHC pledged Ksh. 4 Million which will be shared by all members at Ksh. 20,000 per member. We have sent you invoices for this and urge you to kindly settle as quickly as possible so that we can push the lobby agenda forward.

We had also invited airlines which were represented by Kenya Airways, Brussels Airlines, Turkish Airlines and Swiss. The airlines committed to providing discounted tickets to all our members who wish to travel to various destinations for marketing and also support for inbound fam and media trips.