No one is saying that domestic tourists should be disregarded. We are saying that foreign tourism is far more important. That is a fact.

And France has a far larger middle class and wealthy class. So their domestic tourism is far more lucrative.

Who are we kidding ? If foreign tourism stalls, they may as well close 70% of tourism establishments in Kenya, especially those in remote areas like Samburu national park.

Sorry but Kenyans will not suddenly become interested in visiting Samburu in large enough numbers to sustain it.

That is the most ignorant statement I have ever heard.

Its makes business sense to have no money at all than have half money.

Why, If you close(have no money) then you have no expenses.If you take half money then you incur expenses which might be higher than your half money you have taken.

@JB, you are completely missing the point, what we are saying is that local tourism cannot replace foreign tourism, they are 2 very differnet markets, albeit buying th esame thing.

Let me give you 2 hypothetical scenarios:

A tourist, lands at JKIA, spends the night at the Hilton, books a tourvan to the Mara where he enjoys the wildebeest.

Now compare to you:

You wake up from your house in Nai, drive your car to the mara where you enjoy the wildebeest migration.

The value chains for these two mara tourists are however very different, the tourist will spend on a tour operator, KQ air ticket, night at the Hilton, tour van and finally the Mara. You on the other hand will spend on the gate charges at the Mara and the hotel.

So who is more important here for our economy?

Diani Beach on the Kenyan coast has been voted the best beach destination in Africa.
Another winner from the Coast region was the Sarova Whitesands Beach Resort & Spa, which was voted as the continent’s leading eco-hotel.
A similar honour went to the Sarova Shaba Game Lodge in Samburu, northern Kenya, which was voted Africa’s leading eco-lodge and the world famous Masai Mara whichwas lauded as Africa’s leading national park.
The Leopard Beach Resort & Spa in Diani was also voted Africa’s leading spa resort. This was the second year in a row that the resort has won the award. The establishment was also voted Kenya’s leading beach resort.

In the safari camp segment, Gamewatchers Safaris and Porini Camps were named as the top performers in the continent. Porini manages exclusive safaris and has camps in the Mara and Amboseli parks and also runs camps in conservancies such as Ol-Pejeta.
Twiga Tours and Abercrombie & Kent rounded up the Kenyan companies that emerged tops in the continent in the responsible tourism and luxury safaris categories.
In all, Kenya tied with South Africa with highest number of winning tourism companies in Africa, at 17 while Morocco had 14, followed by Nigeria with eight