Economy

Leaders protest Naivasha tourist attraction rating

kihara

Naivasha MP Jane Kihara. FILE PHOTO | NMG

Some Nakuru County leaders have vowed to petition Tourism CS Najib Balala over claims that the government rigged out Naivasha town on 2017 most-favoured destination ratings.

Led by area MP Jane Kihara, they said the town had beaten all the destinations under review “but the ministry rigged us out from topping the list.”

According to Ms Kihara, the Meetings, Incentives, Conferences and Exhibitions (MICE) indicators “clearly” depicted Naivasha to be in the lead, with conferencing tourism emerging as its major strength.

“We had beaten even Nairobi with its capital City status. We were not even second to the Coast which CS Balala sneaked to top the chart”.

"This was blatant rigging to favour Mombasa in the belief that foreign tourists will be happy. Domestic tourism had elevated Naivasha town and that is the report that should be adopted by the sector,” she said.

Area politician and former Nacada boss, John Mututho, said Nakuru government “despite being aware that Naivasha was tops did not protest when the ministry released its report.”

“We should not concentrate too much on traditional dogmas in the tourism sector. We have grown up fed with propaganda that Kenyan Coast is the most favoured tourist destination. This has hindered development of other towns outside the Coastline. The government feels nostalgic to accept areas like Kisumu, Naivasha…..have managed to grow themselves even without its support,” he said.

Ms Lynette Wanjiku-Ouma of the Jungle Safaris based in Naivasha said she was “perplexed to hear Naivasha had been outdone by Mombasa in domestic tourism rating.”

She said the The Netherlands based International Congress and Convention Association (ICCA), was very clear that Naivasha had emerged tops in 2018 regarding domestic tourism.

She said “perhaps we lost out on other fronts to be edged out of favour, but we deserved to be acknowledged even if they had to change our status to read something like the most determined self-made tourism destination,” arguing that the government has not been supporting the town.

She said besides Naivasha town playing a leading role in enhancing the country’s brand equity, the government has been dillydallying on Lake Naivasha reclamation projects as well as not reining in land grabbers who have been blocking access to many tourism sites in the area.