Research

In 1984, the Kenyan government came up with a domestic tourism policy encouraging Kenyan residents to travel locally especially during the low tourism season. Although domestic tourism is supported for a number of other reasons, the central objective was to even out the seasonality pattern thereby preserving jobs year round. However to date it seems this goal has not yet been realized. A key shortfall is the lack of information and implementation of strategies promoting domestic tourism in Kenya.

The Safari Challenge mobile app aims to promote domestic tourism by helping people to discover different locations and experiences around the country in a fun and interactive way. The main factors backing the potential success of the app include:

1. In Kenya in 2020, mobile phone penetration among adults was 98%, with 43% of adults using the internet (96% of them on smartphones rather than computers) and 17% using social media (98% of them on smartphones). The Kenya Digital Report found that 97% of all internet users in Kenya access the internet on mobile phones, with Kenyans spending over four and a half hours every day using the internet on their phones.

2. The app aims to expand the tourism product on offer beyond the traditional approach which focused mainly on wildlife only and provide other categories such as culture (including new emerging subcultures), city life, hotels, sports, entertainment and other categories that sufficiently showcase all that Kenya has to offer and what more people will be able to resonate with.

1. The main target audience for the application is young adults (18-35) due to high access to smartphones, social media and the internet.

https://www.ca.go.ke/59-million-mobile-phone-devices-connected-to-mobile-networks-as-at-september-2021-ca-report-shows/

http://library.kisiiuniversity.ac.ke:8080/xmlui/bitstream/handle/123456789/254/Domestic_tourism_%285%29.PDF?sequence=1&isAllowed=y

https://e-visa.co.uk/kenya/news/kenya-tourism-recovery

https://www.cabi.org/leisuretourism/news/15054

https://www.tourism.go.ke/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/DOMESTIC-TOURISM-POLICY-BRIEF.pdf