Department Of Tourism Kenya, The State Department of Tourism is mandated with provision of strategic policy direction and leadership in tourism development and management in the country as provided for in the Executive Order No.2 of 2013. In this regard, the Ministry plays the oversight role of coordinating and overseeing policy direction and planning; product diversification and experience; tourism marketing and promotion; synergy building and improving the alignment between supply and demand; enhancing competitiveness and investment potentials and monitoring and evaluation of tourism programmes and activities in the country.
Tourism sector by its nature is unique, it draws from other sectors its existence and growth. It is essentially an amalgamation of various subsectors such as transport, accommodation, food and beverages, recreation and entertainment.
Tourism products and services generally cut across service providers and geographical locations. For instance, a tourist enters the country through an international airport and travels by road to a leisure destination of choice in an entirely different location which constitutes the tourist’s experience. Moreover, tourism packages are mainly circuit-based whereby major attractions and ecosystems are shared by a number of counties or locations.
This therefore calls for a considerable degree of coordination and cooperation as envisaged under the constitutional provisions of Article 189 between the different levels of governments and stakeholders to ensure harmonized and sustainable development of tourism in the country.
SERVICES
The following are functions of the Ministry and Services offered by the Ministry:-
i. Formulation of national tourism policies, plans, strategies, guidelines and goals
ii. Formulation of national wildlife conservation and protection policies, plans, strategies, guidelines and goals
iii. Development and Promotion of Tourism
iv. Wildlife Conservation, Research and protection Education and Awareness
v. Training on Tourism Services
vi. Tourism Financing
vii. Protection of Wildlife Heritage
viii. Wildlife Biodiversity Management and Protection
ix. Management of National Parks and Game reserves and Marine Parks
x. Collaboration with Wildlife clubs of Kenya
xi. Management of Wildlife Dispersal areas in collaboration with partners
xii. Development of Legislation and enforcement of Standards and Quality
xiii. Provision of Incentives to boost businesses in the tourism sector
xiv. Job creation
xv. Provide technical assistance and advisory services to entities engaged in tourism product development including County Governments, investors, community tourism enterprises and M/SMEs in tourism
xvi. Adoption of innovation
xvii. Communication and Information on tourism
xviii. Open new areas for tourism development
xix. Establish and facilitate an enabling environment for promotion of local and foreign investment in tourism
xx. Sustainable management of tourism for posterity
xxi. Support infrastructure development for sustainable growth of tourism
xxii. Support Community-based tourism initiatives and harmonize efforts
xxiii. Provide competitive environment for tourism entrepreneurship through continuous focus on high quality maintenance of public infrastructure frequently used by visitors
xxiv. Contribute to capacity building in tourism nationally by coordinating exchange of knowledge between established and developed tourism destinations
xxv. Coordinate the development of capacities of tourism sector players on security and safety issues
xxvi. Promote modern and cost effective uptake of e-tourism
xxvii. Marketing Kenya to local and International tourists
xxviii. Research, analysis, monitoring and evaluation
xxix. Protection of Tourism and Regulation
xxx. Tourism Research and Monitoring.