New Tourism Book Launched For Online Kenya Travel Agents

 

 

With a boom in travel industry, the local tourism industry has been asked to learn and market Kenya destinations to the world with social media sites.

 

Assistant Minister for Tourism, Cecily Mbarire said it was logical that IT sector and tourism sector combines the role of promoting Kenya as a leading tourism destination and as a technological hb to ride the unstoppable wave of online tourism sales and distribution. A 15 percent increase has been observed in the local tourism industry.

 

“We see that strategic investment in Information Technology and online marketing is a key ingredient to the growth and sustainability of tourism. It is this kind of cooperative development between multi-national firms and local innovators that will be essential for us to succeed in selling Kenya in a global marketplace,” Ms Mbarire said.

 

During the launch of new online tourism textbook, CEO and Founder of E- tourism Frontiers, Damian Cook the online sales showed increase in more than 60% of travel for both business and leisure.

“Our (Tourism) industry needs to focus not just on their own marketing but to encourage their clientele to market for them via social media. 50 percent of travelers now read a review before booking a hotel or trip for a long haul destination and this is especially relevant for travel to Africa. Facebook, Twitter and YouTube are vital tools when researching travel.

“However only a small number of East African Tourism companies are really accessing and using these tools to their full potential. The textbook “E Tourism Frontier’s Guide to Online Tourism” and our Road Shows are designed to show them how to do this,” he said.

Though a new initiative, it has been applaued with many travel agents already ready to read this book and implement it.