Tourism Cabinet Secretary Alfred Mutua on Sunday declared that he is willing to purchase hotels in a bid to reap from what he described as projected profits that the sector is expected to realise due to an impending visitor boom.
Speaking in Malindi during a tourism stakeholder and public participation meeting, the CS stated that he aimed to make the tourism industry profitable and that it would generate huge profits.
Addressing the stakeholders, Mutua stated, “If you are thinking of selling your hotel let me know because I will buy it and I will be making a lot of money very soon.”
The public participation engagement involved stakeholders in the tourism industry, including hotel owners, tour operators, residents, and representatives from various community organisations.
During the meeting, he also promised the stakeholders to make the tourism industry in Kenya value-based to build on the forex exchange that is brought in.
The CS emphasised that Kenya’s tourism industry not only needed numbers but also needed to be upgraded to value-based tourism rather than cheap tourism.
“We don’t want cheap tourism. This region will be the Miami of Africa, the Riviera of Africa,” Mutua stated.
He noted that most of the challenges experienced in the industry over the past 15 years are problems which the government would solve within a short period.
Further during his tour in Malindi, Mutua commissioned the immediate initiation of street lighting projects in Malindi town, which he stated was supported by allocated funds from the national government through the Tourism and Wildlife ministry.
However, the stakeholders raised the issue about the expansion of the airport where they pushed for the government to have a fully equipped airport in the town.
According to the tourism operators, the current airport poses challenges for the industry seeing that its current capacity does not allow for international flights.
Stakeholders also prompted the CS to ensure that the government was on the front line in enhancing the town’s appeal as well as ensuring that the government invested in the electricity infrastructure in Malindi.
According to the operators, the intermittent power supply was affecting the tourism industry negatively.
