Elly Junior

Tourism Cabinet Secretary Alfred Mutua says there is a need for the East African Community to foster a single regional tourism circuit to become Africa's leading sustainable tourism destination.

Speaking during the closing ceremony of the East Africa Regional Tourism Expo and the Magical Kenya Tourism Expo, Mutua said the single tourism circuit will allow travelers to explore Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, and Rwanda, maximising the range of experiences in a single trip.

"We need to first identify and map our tourist attractions sites across the region and we need to have a tourism circuit that is regional so that we can attract more people," he said.

He noted that the region offers several advantages, such as diverse landscapes, rich cultural experiences, and a variety of wildlife.

"Tourism is like a movie. Let people come to our continent and go back and say wow I have to go back before I die. Word of mouth spreads even faster than all the Rands, Dollars Euros, and all we can put on marketing, on advertisements and that is about experience," he added.

Mutua also urged the regional countries to set aside unproductive rivalries and collaborate in promoting tourism assets.

" We need a shift in strategy to attract greater numbers of tourists to our region by pooling our resources for marketing, presenting the region as a unified destination, and transforming challenges into opportunities," Mutua stated.

Last year, Kenya and Tanzania received 1.4 million international arrivals while Uganda got 815,000.