It’s time we got the best value from our tourist attractions

My fellow alumni Julius Kipng'etich, director of Kenya Wildlife Services, shared a valuable insight at our Fast Forward Leadership Unusual seminar last year.

Our wildlife is simply a priceless resource.

It is a scarce commodity that has dwindled over time and an asset that, due to its increasing paucity, will do nothing but appreciate in future.

It is primarily for that very reason that our tourism industry should price accordingly as we have a much sought after resource that is taking a significant amount of taxpayer’s money to preserve and protect.

I was galvanised into remembering this insight as I toured the ancient City State of Venice, Italy, earlier this month.

The northern Italian city of Venice on the coast of the Adriatic City is over 1,500 years old and a major tourist attraction.

Venice is one of the most important tourist destinations in the world, due to it being one of the world’s greatest and most beautiful cities of art.

The city has an average of 50,000 tourists a day (2007 estimates).

In 2006, it was the world’s 28th most internationally visited city, with 2.927 million international arrivals that year.

In the same year the National Bureau of Statistics website shows that Kenya received about 1.3 million holiday and business tourists.

What takes tourists to Venice?

Venice is world-famous for its canals. It is built on an archipelago of 117 islands formed by 177 canals in a shallow lagoon.

The islands on which the city is built are connected by 455 bridges.

In the old centre, the canals serve the function of roads, and almost every form of transport is on water or on foot.

Venice is therefore Europe’s largest urban car free area, unique in Europe in remaining a sizeable functioning city in the 21st century entirely without motorcars or trucks.