Kenyan Tourism Industry Mulls Virtual Game Tours as it seeks to Make up for Revenue Losses

It’s no secret that the tourism industry, like many others, has been severely affected by the covid-19-driven shelter-in-place orders.

According to Business Daily Africa, the Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) is considering to provide virtual game tours as they seek to build resilience in the profoundly affected industry.

“The current products that we have in place do not appeal to the changes in social distances, international borders, and travel restriction,” says Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) director-general John Waweru.

“As a result, we have to modernize operation through the use of technology.”

Virtual game tours will help the industry as they seek to stay afloat during the covid-19-driven economic slowdown. Tourists both locally and around the world will be able to tour the parks from the comfort of their homes virtually.

According to Waweru, South Africa has already implemented the same strategy and its working.

Kenya’s tourism industry has been heavily hit since the onset of the pandemic in the country in March. Revenues, according to KWS, have severely dropped due to covid-19 plus rising levels of poaching and illegal trade of wildlife products.

The authority also plans to embrace technology in protecting the endangered wildlife species.

The tourism industry has recorded a whopping 92 percent drop in revenue since the entrance of coronavirus in the country in March. Since then, the number of foreign tourists, the backbone of Kenya’s tourism industry, has plummeted by 98 percent.

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