Use lessons from Queen’s fete to market Kenya

Queen Elizabeth’s diamond jubilee celebrations were amazing. They were happening when we were celebrating Kenya’s internal independence — Madaraka Day and hence they provided refreshing TV content.

The celebrations continued on 4th and 5th June –the two days were public holidays in the UK. I saw one Kenyan flag among the many union jack flags in one of the boats on River Thames then.

The Queen stopped by the Kenyan stand, confirming Kenya as a Royal destination.

For opportunities, Kenya can leverage on the Royal connection to improve her standings as a premium tourist destination.

The link dates back to 1952 when Princess Elizabeth was on a tour to Kenya. She went up a tree house one evening as a princess and climbed down the next day as a Queen following the death of King George VI.

This inscribed Kenya in the history of Queen Elizabeth II reign.

There is an opportunity to leverage on the attractions that The Aberdares National Park has to offer in addition to the famous Treetops Hotel.

The hotel is one of the sites where a beacon has been lit among more than 4,000 others across the world as part of the celebrations.

Another attraction is the rare shy and handsome mountain Bongo antelope which according to some myth, if you see it in the jungle it increases your life on earth.

Probably we can imply that the queen saw a Bongo while she was in the area and hence she lived long enough to celebrate her golden jubilee as queen, she is still growing stronger.

Apart from the Treetops lodge there is also the Ark, another tree lodge in Aberdares built in 1969 resembling the Noah’s Ark.

This is also a romantic destination that can be marketed as the equivalent of Noah’s Ark. To increase the focus on the country as a destination of choice, we can also popularise some books and movies about Kenya.

A good example is the book and movie, White Mischief authored by John Fox.

In the book the author claimed that the happy valley residents were, “smitten by the exhilarating grandeur of the Aberdares”.

Anyone who has not been there should be curious about all these attractions upon getting exposed to such testimonies.