EDITORIAL: Admit more local tourists

The tourism sector is on its knees and any efforts to revive it are much welcome.

Tourism Cabinet Secretary Najib Balala projects that earnings from the sector are not expected to improve for the rest of the year as border closures and movement restrictions are still in force to curb the spread of coronavirus.

This is after he announced the sector had lost Sh80 billion in the first six months of the year due to Covid-19 pandemic.

To revive the sector, Mr Balala challenged players in the domestic market to set up the right prices, noting that poor pricing was discouraging Kenyans from taking up their products.

On Thursday, the Kenya Wildlife Service set the pace by reducing park entry fees for both locals and foreigners for a year.

Further, the KWS has given a one-year rent relief to lodge owners in its parks and reserves.

And to promote profiling of Kenya as tourist destination in films, local and international film producers will get 50 percent discount on filming fees in the parks.

This decision is timely during this unusual time and hopefully domestic players in this sector will borrow a leaf and cut prices of their products.