To:
The Clerk of the National Assembly of Kenya.
CC:
The Parliamentary Committee on Sports, Culture and Tourism.
From:
The Community Based Tourism Consortium of Kenya.
Date:
May 14, 2018
Subject: The Miscellaneous Amendment
Bill No. 12 of 2018.
The
Community Based Tourism Consortium of Kenya comprises of several legally
registered organizations working together to enhance livelihoods of local
communities through Community Based Tourism. These institutions include: The
Kenya Community Based Tourism Network (KECOBAT), The Ecotourism Kenya (EK), and
Rural Tourism Network of Kenya (RTN).
We
write to provide our analysis of “The Miscellaneous Amendment Bill
No. 12 of 2018 which is currently before
various relevant departmental committees of the National Assembly
Our
input seeks to provide a critical analysis of the notice to amend The Tourism
Act No.28 2011 taking into account international principles and best practices
in tourism governance.
The Proposed amendments to the Act and
our position.
The
bill sees to make the following amendments to the Tourism Act No. 28 of 2011:
- Section 7 (1) (a). Formulate guidelines and prescribe measures for sustainable tourism throughout the country.
Proposed amendment:
Deletion of the word ‘sustainable’ from
section 7 (1) (a) and inserting the words “establishments and operations” immediately
after word ‘tourism’.
After the amendment, the section will
then read: formulate guidelines and prescribe measures for tourism
establishments and operations throughout the country.
Our position.
The concept of sustainable tourism is
gaining traction as an approach that seeks to reconcile economic, environmental
and social impacts of tourism development. The popularity and the need to
promote sustainable tourism development was underscored in 2017 when the United
Nations declared 2017 the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development
in order to promote a change in policies and business practices within the
sector and also in the habits of
consumers and travelers.
As Community Based Tourism
stakeholders, we hold the view that sustainable tourism has never been more
relevant than in today’s world where environmental and cultural degradation are
the commonplace of tourism development in various destinations of the world.
Consequently, it is incumbent upon various
stakeholders- such as policy makers- to formulate policies and regulations that
promote sustainable tourism development in the country. As such, we are not in
agreement with the intention to expunge sustainability from the current section
of the Act.
Our
proposal: we propose
insertion of the sentence “to realize sustainable tourism development” after
the word ‘operations’ as the ultimate goal or aspirations of the role of
formulation of guidelines and measures for tourism establishments and
operations. Hence, the new section will read:
Formulate guidelines and prescribe
measures for tourism establishments and operations to realize sustainable tourism development
throughout the country.
- The Bill intends to delete section 7 (b) of the Act which reads: regulate tourism activities and services countrywide, in accordance with the national tourism strategy.
The role of regulation of tourism activities in the country
was donated to the TRA which is a body corporate established by the Tourism Act
No. 28 of 2011 under section 4. The
regulatory roles of TRA were operationalized though the gazettement of legal
notice No. 128 (Tourism Regulatory Authority Regulations 2014) vide the Kenya Gazette
Supplement No. 142. The TRA regulates
the Tourism sector through standardization and licensing as provided for in the
TRA regulations 2014.
Our position:
The amendment seeks to take away this legally
mandated regulatory role of TRA without necessarily donating the same role to
any other body corporate. It is our considered view that this shall create a
regulatory lacuna that may pose a challenge to effecting and maintaining
quality and standards of tourism establishments and activities in the country. We
recommend that the regulatory roles remain in the interim with the TRA until
such a time when such roles shall be partially or fully donated to another body
or institution.
This
is memorandum is prepared and signed by all the organizations constituting the
Community Based Tourism Consortium of Kenya including:
Kenya
Community based Tourism (KECOBAT)
Represented
by: Mr. Taiko Lemayian (Executive Director)
The
Ecotourism Kenya (EK)
Represented
by: Ms. Grace Nderitu (Chief Executive Officer)
The
Rural Tourism Network (RTN)
Represented
by: Mr. Bicholas Ayimba (Chief Executive
Officer)
