Kenya is setting up a tourism satellite account (TSA) to ensure that investors and stakeholders have the latest data to help them prepare and market their businesses. Geoffrey Manyara, Senior Regional Tourism Adviser for Sub Regional Office for Eastern Africa at the UN Economic Commission for Africa, said the project would be implemented in six months.



The TSA is one of the main tools for the economic measurement of tourism. The Kenya TSA is based on the framework developed by the UN World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) after it recognised that certain economies were failing to accurately measure tourism’s economic impact. Kenya will be the fourth country in Africa, after South Africa, Botswana, and Rwanda, to have a TSA.

The Tourism Research Institute (TRI) and Tourism Finance Corporation (TFC) are among the stakeholders participating in the implementation of the TSA Programme.

TRI Acting CE, David Gitonga, said: “TSA will help decision-making by the government on tourism development, including on policy formulation, optimal resource allocation to the sector, infrastructure prioritisation and incentives for tourism development, among others.”

The project aims to capture all aspects of tourism activities and to determine the true value of the sector’s contribution to the country’s GDP, among other indicators.

TFC MD, Jonah Orumoi, said the data would enable it to make informed decisions in determining specific investments for different parts of the country.