Tourism: Kenya to Check Quality of Tourist Hotels

Following an increase in complaints from international tour operators, the Kenya Government will undertake massive grading exercise of tourist hotels and restaurants in the country next April.

Kenya has spent $190,000 in training professional hotel and restaurant assessors to be used in a massive hotel and restaurant grading exercise starting April 2010 to stem rising criticism from key tourist sources. The hotels and restaurants have not been graded for years and the neglect has led to a decline in quality, prompting constant criticism from important partners such as Britain, the source of most tourists to Kenya. Assistant Minister for Tourism Cecily Mbarire said some of the five star hotels may have depreciated in the past three years, while some with lower ranking may have improved. East African Community Standard to be Used in Rating Rating will use the standard approved by the East African Community, the newly established Hotels and Restaurants Authority (HRA) said. The community standard is aimed at creating uniformity in services offered in hotels and restaurants within the community countries. “This will go a long way towards achieving the goal of elevating the East African region to a single market destination,” the HRA said. The community brings together five countries of Eastern Africa – Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda and Burundi in a b orderless trading block. The HRA said it undertook training of 25 professionals from both the private and public sector. “We initiated this private-public sector partnership arrangement for the implementation of the East Africa Community Standard and Classification System in order to further the EAC cooperation in the implementation of the regional classification scheme,” HRA said. When the hotels and restaurants are classified, tourists to the region will be able to access information on the condition of hotels and restaurants regarding location, size of rooms, supplies in the bathroom and frequency of change of linen. They will also have information on the style, elegance, comfort, finish and luxury of the hotels and restaurants as well as staff grooming and communication skills. Tourism is one of the four pillars of economic development the Kenya Government is relying upon to achieve its Vision 2030 –a blue print it has developed to industrialize the country by the year 2030. “Kenya aims to be among the 10 long-haul tourists destinations globally,” the government states in the blue print. “To be ranked among the top 10, Kenya must expand her global and African market share by offering new products, expanding tourist expenditure per capita and by improving her international marketing strategies.” Currently the leading African destinations are Egypt and South Africa, which also have the highest number of the best rated five-star hotels and restaurants.