East Africa: A Single Tourist Destination

The East African Community (EAC) has a new strategic plan to promote tourism in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania. Part of the initiative is a common visa for tourists that would be honored in all three countries.

The plan hasn’t been approved yet, but many hope it will be by November, in time for the World Travel Fair in London, as well as the Berlin Fair later in the year. The benefits of such a program include:

• It supports the spirit of the common East Africa customs union, launched last year, as well as the proposed common market between the three countries by 2010.


• It would allow tour operators to develop packages that visit all three countries more easily.

A single entity, the East African Tourism and Wildlife Conservation Agency (EATWCA) will be in charge of the tourism and conservation sector of the EAC.

The EAC, which depends on wildlife-based tourism, has a lot to offer eco-minded tourists, and packaged as a single destination could offer tourists a broader experience. Tourists looking to see wildlife make up more than 75 percent of the tourists to the region. In addition, Kenya has been ranked among the world’s top eco-tourism destinations, with Tanzania and Egypt coming in second for popularity in eco-tourism. On top of that, National Geographic Magazine named Serengeti, the largest national park in Tanzania, one of the 50 must-go-to-in-lifetime places in the world.