Kenya’s strategy
Firstly, Kenya wanted to strengthen its brand – ‘Magical Kenya’, the logo for which is shown above. |
The front page of the Magical Kenya website says ‘Welcome Home’. This builds on the importance of Kenya to archaeological finds on human evolution and tallies with what it wanted to do in 2011 – highlight Kenya ‘as the home of human origin’. It is not the only country referred to as ‘the cradle of humankind’ but it is one of them and ‘welcome home’ identifies it in this way. Magical Kenya website |
Do you think it is a good idea for countries to adopt a brand for their tourism industry?
Discussion
To some extent, countries have always been brands because they have a distinct and individual identity. However, it is generally considered a good idea to develop a country brand as it can bring all their tourism efforts together making them more visible and encouraging other industries in the country to think about how they contribute (or how they might contribute) to it. It needs government commitment because it is something that is long term so has to be constantly publicised.
Kenya is famous for safaris and beach holidays but its new strategy intends to ‘broaden… what Kenya sells to the world and how it manages the natural assets that draw visitors in the first place’ (Oloo, 2025). For example, it wants to encourage people to go on safari in different areas by opening up other parks. Indakwa (2026) notes that ‘Despite boasting 23 terrestrial national parks, 28 terrestrial national reserves, four national sanctuaries, and four marine national parks, Kenya’s international tourism has largely been concentrated in just six national parks’. Extending destinations that tourists go to would spread out tourism, potentially spread out where money was coming into the economy and cause less disruption to animals and local populations.
An important part of this strategy took place in March 2026 when Kenya launched a global tourism campaign encouraging people to stay longer and to think about all opportunities available to tourists rather than ‘just’ safaris and beaches. You can watch their film here.
It also developed a physical or digital ‘Magical Kenya Souvenir Passport’ encouraging people to collect stamps from different areas outside of the usual tourist spots. This has been designed mainly for ‘younger travellers such as Millennials and Generation Z, who increasingly prioritise unique and shareable experiences when choosing travel destinations’ (Kipkemoi, 2026).
Do you think the video and visitor passport make visiting Kenya more popular or not? Why is this?
Discussion
It is interesting to see all the things that a tourist could do in Kenya – beyond going to the beach or going on safari – and it might encourage tourists to go there if they had not thought of these things. The visitor passport might also act as an incentive for younger people to visit places so they can share them with friends and family and have a permanent record of their trip.
One of the key themes raised here is that, in order to be effective, money raised by tourism needs to stay in the country where it is spent. Therefore, attracting tourists to countries is only one part of the equation – keeping tourists’ money is the other part. This has a direct link to ‘sustainable’ tourism, which is what the course goes onto next.