Connect with us

General News

Kenya: Covid-19 Presented an Opportunity to Rethink Tourism, Industry Players Say

Published

4 years ago

on

[ad_1]

Nairobi — Various stakeholders in the tourism sector have said that Covid-19 presented a major opportunity to rethink the industry and be more innovative despite the numerous challenges it brought.

Speaking at a roundtable discussion during the rebrand of Express Travel Group (ETG) to Hemingways Travel, Tourism CS Najib Balala noted that the Covid-19 pandemic presented an opportunity for industry players to think out of the box since it wasn’t things as usual.

“Technology innovation and collaboration enabled the tourism sector to ride the difficult Covid period and this should be the trend going forward,” Balala said.

According to Hemingways Travel MD Joseph Kithitu, the pandemic revealed that things can happen outside of your plans and that shows you need a serious travel back up to maintain your movement.

“Covid-19 didn’t come to kill travel or business, it came in to bring a new shift that people want to travel safe, in an organized way and that’s what we are bringing to the table with this rebrand,” said Kithitu.

Balala noted that innovation, digitization, and expansion to leisure travel is a sure win for Hemingways Travel and any other sector players looking to thrive in the tourism and travel sector as the industry continues to recover.

“Covid-19 gave us an opportunity to leapfrog to technology, the Hemingways travel is a testament to what we need to do as businesses, which is to rethink your business model on how to create better connections with your customers,” said Agnes Mucuha, CEO Kenya Association of Travel Agents(KATA).