They say travel broadens the mind. But often I find it just heats it up.
I have just returned from South Africa, a country that receives 8.5 million international visitors every year. I stayed at the V&A Waterfront, which is the country’s biggest tourist attraction, drawing over 20 million foreign and domestic visitors annually. Kenya as a country has yet to clock 2 million international visitors, and a week spent at Cape Town’s Waterfront was enough to tell me why.
Cape Town’s harbour is certainly pretty, backed by the majestic Table Mountain. But there are not many other God-given gifts in sight. Unlike Kenya, the Cape is not teeming with wildlife, nor does it have a warm ocean, feathery-white sands and swaying palms. God gave us those things. But the reason South Africa is way ahead of us is more to do with the mind of man than the hand of God.
The enormously successful V&A Waterfront is the work of humans, not angels. It is a working harbour that has been transformed into a teeming sea-front showcase, full of shops, hotels, restaurants and tourist attractions. There is quality everywhere, for all pocket sizes. The fine dining competes with the world’s finest; the fast food is indeed fast and cheap.
The Waterfront works because it is run by a private company, which was recently bought out by a global consortium for a colossal sum. And it really does work. Restaurants are arranged side-by-side on the seafront, competing for your custom. If you want to go out in a boat, you can choose from humble sea-buses to sleek sailing boats, all offering good value because they have to compete.
There is hardly a single shop I visited where I was not greeted warmly and enthusiastically. Staff are knowledgeable and energetic, and know exactly how to make a sale. Armed police patrol the precincts, making the Waterfront entirely secure for visitors, and double up as friendly tourist guides, offering guidance and directions.
If you want to see the town, you can hop onto a special tourist bus which leaves every 20 minutes – on the dot. You can hop off at the Table Mountain Cableway, which has been operating for 89 years, and you will whisked up to the mountain-top in a smoothly running cable car. Everything is orderly and on time. The views from the top are indeed phenomenal, but I was far more interested in observing the power of good management of resources at work.
What makes me angry is how much more we have by way of natural beauty and resources. South Africa cannot compare with Kenya in terms of variety of wildlife and tropical landscapes. But it is streets ahead in managing its tourism.
What have we done with our Mombasa, our Kilindini, our coastline? Whatever has been done is the work of private operators. Government is an inhibitor and blocker, rather than an enabler. When have we given systematic thought to our tourist attractions, and how to develop them?
Consider if Table Mountain was situated in Mombasa rather than Cape Town. For starters, the technology needed to put up a simple cable car system would be beyond us, so we would wait for decades for some foreigner to suggest it. Then, we would squabble for aeons about who should own and run the cable company. Coastals would maintain that it would have to be given to “one of their own”, and would threaten to disrupt operations if it were not.
Then we would run a flawed tendering process which would result in the award of the operation to some shady recently created company controlled by shadowy politicians. That company would buy third-hand dodgy cables and cars from Uzbekistan at world-beating prices, using public money. The operation would be poorly managed and maintained. There would inevitably be a major accident, and then chaotic recriminations would result, causing the cableway to be suspended. After which the whole cycle would repeat itself.
Do I exaggerate? I don’t think so. The countries that attract most visitors are very clever about it. They combine enlightened public policy with private capital and management expertise to design world-class attractions. And the operative word is “design”: nature did not bestow the Eiffel Tower on Paris, Big Ben on London, or the Waterfront on Cape Town. Clever people sat down and planned it all; clever people run those attractions; and clever people make a lot of money out of them.
Certainly, South Africa faces many challenges going forward. Maintaining ethnic unity and equity will require great vision and inventiveness. In Kenya we have many natural advantages but few man-made ones. What we have done with our tourism is the result of private ingenuity overcoming public incompetence. We could do so much more if we allowed science and management to come to the fore.
Coming back to the sight of our squabbling and venal politicians was more than I could take. I think I need a holiday…
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{ 5 comments… read them below or add one }
Its not suprising at all,
In Kenya we always shift the blame. Either it was the colonial govt, the previous regime, the donors, the people from other tribes, the rain…
Even when people burnt maize in January, they still blame the govt for th rise in food prices.
In the tourism sector we will put minimal effort and blame others for issuing travel advisories.
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Dear Sunny,
As a management consultant, I guess you should of course know that organisations build and dwell on their comparative advantages. We have God given advantages but not branded these. I say with the trends going on, Kenya should become a market commodity and be managed by a group of progressive entrepreneurs. Turn it into Kenya Inc. or something if the sort. Its disheartening how a resourceful nation as this is just being milked clean! Tch!
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I agree.I read this in the hard copy Sunday Nation.At one time I shared on group email why Michael Jospeh may be to South Africa and Business what Obama is to Kenya and politics.His headship of Safaricom is marked by a subscriber base of over 10 million;more than once the company has been voted the most respected in East Africa;it rose to be the most profitable in the region,and now the sucess of MPESA has made the Banks and Ministry of Finance jealous.It’s efficeincy removed the need of many customer care centres, in fact the only ones I know of are in Nairobi.The keys to Kenya’s development are all with us.Our lack of seriousness was illustrated by Hon. Balala’s disclosure that inspite of tourism being a leading foreign exchange earner, the Ministry is alocated onlyKsh. 400 million for marketing and promotion!
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Constant:
Much truth in what you say. We are adept at passing blame. Burning maize and then shouting ‘Unga’ is a case in point.
And yes, we do produce tourism products that are frozen in time. As I pointed out before, we still sing ‘Malaika’ at every tourist hotel! For nearly 40 years!
[Reply]
Sam:
Please see my most recent BD article (15 Dec), which refers to Michael Joseph’s leadership.
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