Kenya debates using tourism as a development strategy

Kenya debates using tourism as a development strategy

By Taya Prokopenko

Kenya is a country to the east of Africa lying on the equator with the Indian Ocean to its south-east and with the coordinates of 1° 16" South, 36° 49" East. It’s been a very popular tourist destination for the past 10 years for people all over the world, especially the UK. It attracts approximately a million people every year, mostly for the safari trips and beach holidays which gives the country an average income about £500 and contributes about 63% of GDP (Gross Domestic Product).

The picture to show the location of Kenya

Climate graphs for the UK (above) and Kenya (below) to compare the temperatures and the rainfall throughout the year

The Savannah and Coral Reef ecosystems bring people to Kenya for their hot climate all year round, never dropping below 20°C with a rainfall that varies thorough the year and parts of Savannah. This type of ecosystem is very rich for variety of wildlife and a perfect destination for the beach holidays. That’s why the main attraction for tourists are Game Parks, large areas of country set aside as a reserve for the wild animals to live in a safe environment. There’s over 50 Game Parks in Kenya, where people are taken around in minibuses with the local guides to enjoy the safari experience. These Game Reserves were created to keep the wildlife safe and make sure that tourists get free excess to all sorts of animals without causing any damage.

There are also a lot of other reasons to visit Kenya besides wildlife watching, safaris and Indian Ocean beach vocations. The historical experience you get meeting local people and getting to know their traditions and culture will make you forget about the city life and dive into the Maasai world. The range of activities you can do is pretty impressive too, most popular of them are: hot balloon trips, fishing, cultural tours of local tribes, sailing trips, diving and trekking Mount Kenya - the biggest mountain in Kenya standing at 5199 metres tall, which will take 3 to 5 days for an experienced trekker; this will be an unforgettable place for all nature lovers with its 11 endemic species.

	Mount Kenya on the map

Holidays in Kenya are quite cheap for what you receive and it only takes about 9 hours to get away from the miserable British weather into another world of the tropical paradise. It is hot and humid at the coast but dry in the north and north-east parts of country. There’s plenty of sunshine all year round and the hottest the temperature gets is about 28°C in the February- March period. Average temperatures are at comfortable levels of 20-30°C (seasonal variations of 4°C) and the rainfall is 31 inches (787 mm) a year but varies throughout different parts of the country and time of the year.

In contrast to all of that, during the months of shortest daylight (November, December and January) in the UK, when sunshine is at a minimum, with an average of two hours a day on the south coast of England and temperatures are around 5°C, Kenya’s having its best time for tourism. Over the UK the mean annual temperature varies from 8°C to 11°C. The average rainfall is up to 40 inches (1000 mm) per year, but exceeds 2000 mm in the wettest parts of Britain! So we can come to conclusion that weather conditions and climate in general are one of the most significant reasons for visiting Kenya, especially for the tourists from the Great Britain.

But everything is not as good as it seems to be. Kenyans are facing the dilemma of tourism and sustainable development at the moment because everything has its disadvantages and tourism industry isn’t the exception. Sustainable development for Kenya would be the one that would avoid damage to the environment, economy and culture; would meet all the needs of present population but share its benefits in years to come.

Looking at the bright side of tourism at Kenya it is a major contribution to country’s economical development: it is a source of income – 21% of foreign exchange; it provides a huge number of jobs, either in direct or indirect employment; it provides a market for local goods; helps develop the facilities around the country; it educates people about other cultures – both Kenyans and foreigners and finally the money from tourism could go towards building new schools and hospitals and improving the health care. Tourism had been a big help in improving the infrastructure of Kenya and other related industries.

The beauty of coral reefs in Kenya

But tourism can lead to serious irreversible outcomes if not managing it properly and ignoring the idea of sustainable development. The negative impacts on Kenya such as the jobs are often poorly paid; money goes to the big companies rather than local people; people are forced to leave their homes and being exploited – it can all be unfair and disrespectful on Kenyan people. But the most important issue is the damage that tourism causes for the environment, which has effect on the local ecosystem, food chains and can have an impact on the whole world in the future. At Safaris, tour buses often take shortcuts to come closer to the animals and don’t keep to the route which causes soil erosion so the ruts can develop and grass gets destroyed. Camera flash and shadows from the air balloons scare wild animals and they refuse to eat or reproduce which has an effect on the food chain and the population. The obvious one is the air pollution from the minibuses and different sorts of transport used by tourists. Other disadvantages are linked to the beach holidays: farmland and natural vegetation is cleared to build the hotels and leisure centres so the wildlife disappears because its habitat’s destroyed; beaches get polluted. Also the coral reefs are being destroyed by many factors like sand disturbed by snorkelers, boat anchors, tourists trampling over it, overfishing and water pollution. Corals also get broken off for souvenirs which is a thoughtless thing to do because they are homes to many different animals such as sponges, crabs, lobsters, and many small fishes.

Different people hold different views on the tourism industry in Kenya because it treats people differently – some of them benefit from it and it is the only source of their income, for example the minister of tourism whose job is to promote and develop it, the businessmen and hotel owners who get profit and become richer and richer the more tourists there are, people who work in this industry sector and whose lives depend on it, and local projects that get money from the government and if there’s more money in there, they get more to fulfil their ideas. Those people are certain that the tourism should be maintained despite its effect on the environment because it benefits them in some ways and is the activity they rely on economically and socially.

The other side of an argument is that tourism causes more damage rather than helping Kenya to develop. Some local people are against tourism simply because they find tourists disrespectful towards Kenyans – some of them might be racist or rude, they don’t consider that it is some people’s home and walk around in beach clothing. They might treat all local people as staff or litter too much. But other people are more concerned about the nature damage. Environmentalists take priority in protecting the eco-system, its habitats and natural recourses. Tourism does put pressure on the natural resources such as drinking water, not all local people have supply to it but it is desperately needed in the hotels. The way that tourists treat the environment is careless and ignorant and people need to think about the future to make sure the future generations won’t suffer from the mistakes we make now not realising that the environment is the most important thing we have.

During my visit to Kenya I’ve spoken to different people about the issue. Lameck Abasi, whose main income is making souvenirs and selling them to tourists in Mombasa was one of them, I asked his view on tourism in his country and if it should be used as a development strategy or not. His words were: “Yes, tourism is definitely the most important source I get the money from to feed my family of 3 kids but the main conflict of is that the government and businesses take priority over the tourists rather than local Kenyan people like us. Prices are just over the moon where we live because it’s a tourist place and the government’s trying to get as much money as it possibly can but sometimes we can’t afford basic food or essentials, it’s simply too expensive. I spend every day doing my best to make pretty souvenirs for affordable price but there are souvenir shops at the hotels and restaurants now and most tourists buy everything at the place and I sell nothing. It is unfair but we’ve got no other choice. I think that our country should invest in tourism but it should consider locals and make it easier for us to earn some money and benefit from tourists as well as businessmen do.”

Another person was Bakongo Bantu, the member of the Maasai Tribe who used to live on the territory of one of the Game Reserves: “Me and my family have been kicked out of our homes because the government decided to expand the local Game Park and they needed to free the area so we’ve been told to leave. This tourism isn’t a good idea at all because the government doesn’t care about Kenyan people and their opinion on what’s going on. Also tourists use up a lot of our natural resources and we have nothing left for us. My family are looking for the place to live in now and we miss out home very much.”

To sum everything up I would say that tourism is a good source of money for the country and it is very important to Kenya’s development in terms of economics and international relationship but it has to find ways to manage the development sustainably to let the country prosper in the future. And the first thing to do is to reduce the long term harm to the environment. Government needs to set up some policies to protect the Savannah and Coral Reef ecosystems so that the tourism didn’t cause the damage to the environment. Of course there are some kids of pollution you can’t really reduce more but there are things that could be done to keep sustainable tourism in Kenya. Limiting the number of tourists could be the key one – it would reduce the number of pollution overall and it would give the environment more time to recover. Businesses should be told not to build too high and too many buildings to keep to the natural landscapes as much as possible. The minibus’ drivers should be fined if they come closer to animals than allowed and if they won’t keep to the routs given. Corals should not be allowed to be taken away as the souvenirs to save the coral reefs.

The tourism can be managed sustainably and it is the only way for Kenya to make it bring more positives and make it as enjoyable experience for locals as well as tourists.

Locals enjoy meeting new people and introducing them to Kenya

Дата добавления: 2015-09-29