Kisumu County has launched a week-long tourism festival featuring artificial intelligence, digital skills training and youth-focused activities as it seeks to expand the lakeside city’s tourism economy and create new employment opportunities.
Deputy Governor Dr Mathews Owili said tourism had become a central part of the county’s development strategy, with the sector supporting jobs, businesses, cultural preservation and community development.
“Tourism is far more than leisure and travel. It is an engine of economic transformation,” Owili said at the launch of the Kisumu Tourism Fiesta.
He said Kisumu’s links to Mombasa and Entebbe, together with investments in hotels and conference facilities over the past nine years, had strengthened the city’s capacity to host major events.
The county has also entered a two-year partnership with the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) focused on tourism, hospitality and women, with the programme expected to attract Sh 30 million annually, according to county officials.
The festival, held alongside World Tourism Week, includes a youth symposium on digital technology and artificial intelligence, a media tour, a cultural carnival and motorsport tourism, County Executive Committee Member for Trade, Tourism, Cooperatives, Industry and Marketing Farida Salim said.
“We have packaged all this to be celebrated not only by the people of Kisumu, but by the whole world,” Salim said.
The county is also working with Alliance Française and hospitality professionals to provide students with digital and language skills aimed at improving their access to opportunities in the tourism industry.
“We are linking languages with opportunities,” Salim said.
The emphasis on digital skills comes as Kenya’s tourism sector increasingly looks to artificial intelligence and digital platforms to improve destination marketing and create technology-enabled jobs.
The national tourism ministry has separately partnered with Google Kenya on an AI-driven strategy that includes digital skilling for young people and small tourism businesses.
Kisumu has also expanded digital-skills programmes for young people.
In May, county officials said graduates of a local technology training programme had secured jobs with companies outside Kenya, highlighting the growing role of digital skills in the county’s employment strategy.
The Kenya Wildlife Service is meanwhile working with the county to diversify tourism products around the Lake Victoria basin, said KWS Assistant Director for Kisumu County Halake Hussein.
KWS has opened a nature trail on Ndere Island and is upgrading facilities at the Impala area to improve attractions including bird watching, crocodile viewing and picnicking, Hussein said.
He said increased visitor numbers could translate into higher incomes for communities around the attractions.
The festival’s activities are being held at the Jaramogi Oginga Odinga Sports Ground and the Mama Grace Onyango Social and Cultural Centre, with the programme scheduled to culminate in a city drift takeover on Saturday.
Kisumu has in recent years sought to position itself as a regional tourism hub by promoting Lake Victoria, cultural attractions, wildlife and conference tourism. County officials have also highlighted improved transport links and partnerships with tourism operators as part of efforts to attract more visitors.
Leave a comment