Kenya: Coast brand identity to showcase tourism
Kenya's tourism marketers on Friday launched tourism brand identity for the coastal region as part of efforts to revive the sector which has slumped due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Joseph Boinet, chief administrative secretary Ministry of Tourism and Wildlife, said the launch of the Kenya Coast Tourism brand identity involved the unveiling of the brand representing the tourism resort coastal region and its various sub-brands of Mombasa, Lamu, Malindi, Watamu, Diani, Tsavo and Tana River with an aim of repositioning the region as a destination of choice.
"Today's launch will be crucial for the development of tourism not only in the Kenya coast tourism, but also the entire country," Boinet said in Mombasa during the launch of the brand identity Kenya Coast Working Group (KCWG). "The differentiation of the tourism circuits is part of our broad strategy to promote Kenya's diverse tourism industry. I commend the private sector especially for playing a great role in this journey," he added.
"This region has not realized its full tourism potential due to a number of reasons such as the lack of product differentiation in the various destinations and challenges of insecurity in some areas which go on to affect the entire region. We want to change this going forward for the Coast to realize its full potential," he said.
The East African nation is keen to rebuild trust and confidence among both foreign and domestic travelers and hence increase and sustain demand for holiday and investment in Kenya as a tourist destination.
The tourism and travel sector is one of the worst-hit globally following the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Tourism officials say arising from the pandemic, the tourism and wildlife sectors are experiencing unprecedented health and social-economic crisis.
Kenya Tourism Board (KTB) CEO, Betty Radier noted that the rebrand is key to showcase the diversity of Kenya's tourism offering to the discerning travelers.
"We are here today to revamp and create awareness of the Kenyan Coast and its various brands that make it unique and diverse. This will be crucial in our efforts to market the destination by repositioning the Kenyan Coast as a destination of choice," Radier said.
"When people think about the Kenyan coast in terms of tourism, the first thing that comes to mind is the beach. But the Coast is much more than this, it is about fantastic cuisine to suit all, culture, history, art, good weather and fantastic hospitality. This is what we want people to see when they make their choice for travel," she added.
Hasnain Noorani, chairman of the Kenya Coast Working group said the launch would be instrumental in repositioning the coast while also giving a good platform to the trade partners to market their products and offerings at the coast.
KCWG was formed in December 2018 by the Ministry of Tourism to rebrand and reposition the Kenyan Coast as a destination of choice.
The organization is composed of tourism industry players from the coastal region while KTB and Kenya Coast Tourist Association are members of the KCWG.
