Narok County in deal with tour firms to review Mara fees

Narok County has turned to tour operators to sell entry tickets to the world-famous Maasai Mara Game Reserve after it terminated an electronic ticketing deal with Equity Bank.

The county government has engaged the Kenya Association of Tour Operators (Kato) to vend and distribute tickets to visitors wishing to tour the premier wildlife reserve.

“This is a stop-gap measure to ensure there is no loss and that business continues uninterrupted,” said Kato chief executive Fred Kaigua in an interview with the Business Daily.

“We have given space to Narok County staff to sell the tickets from our headquarters.”

Narok County said that payment would strictly be by banker’s cheque so as to enhance inefficiency in revenue collection and limit cash handling.

The entry tickets will also be available at Narok County offices and at the Maasai Mara gate.

“All our operators and visitors are therefore, reminded that cash payments at our entry gates are not permitted,” read a notice issued by Narok County on Monday.

Narok County governor Samuel Tunai on June 25 revoked the Maasai Mara entry fee collection contract entered between Equity Bank and the former County Council of Narok over claims of leakages in the collection process.

READ: Narok ends Equity Bank contract to collect Maasai Mara fees

The move to cancel the e-ticketing meant the county government would no longer honour smart cards bought before the termination of the deal, sparking off protects from tour operators and tourists.

“We had a discussion and they are honouring tickets after proof of payments by providing a loading receipt,” said Mr Kaigwa adding that a few cases were yet to be resolved.

The dispute over collection of gate fees comes during the Maasai Mara peak season — which runs from June to August. It is associated with the great wildebeest migration, considered the eighth wonder of the world.

The entry fee to the Maasai Mara is Sh6,960 ($80) and Sh3,915 ($45) per day for foreign adults and children respectively. Kenyans pay Sh1,000 while East African citizens are charged Sh1,200.

Narok County last week floated tender inviting firms to design, customise and deploy a web-based e-ticketing system integrated with a payment gateway to enable visitors access the Mara.

Governor Tunai had claimed that the Equity Bank ticketing system was defective and that the county was losing revenues.

Equity has moved to court to challenge the cancellation of the e-ticketing contract, saying it stands to suffer damages to the tune of Sh1.2 billion.

The former Narok Country Council had signed a 10-year agreement with Kenya’s second largest bank in August 2011 through which equity would earn a commission of seven per cent on a fixed annual revenue base of Sh1.5 billion.

Although Equity was the lowest bidder at Sh28.4m, the Auditor-General raised queries about the deal because the council would still pay the bank Sh105m annually even when revenue collected fell short of target.

Data from the 2013 Economic Survey shows that the numbers of visitors to the game reserve dropped by 26 per cent to 102,000 last year as tourism revenues dropped by two per cent to Sh96.2 billion.