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Kenya steps up classifying hotels in 16 counties to boost tourism
Pride Inn Paradise Beach Resort and Spa in Shanzu Mombasa County attained the five-star status rating to become Mombasa's only 5-star hotel after an exercise by the Tourism Regulatory Authority.
The Tourism Regulatory Authority (TRA) is stepping up the nationwide classification of all tourism facilities and establishments, including hotels, with the latest exercise now targeting 16 counties.
The rating will offer guidance to visitors on the level of quality of services they can expect from an establishment.
In the latest round, the TRA wants consultants to co-ordinate the assessment and accreditation of class A and B hospitality enterprises in 16 counties as a continuation of the national accreditation, classification and grading exercise that is intended to cover the entire country.
The impending classification in 16 counties comes on the back of similar work having been undertaken in Mount Kenya Counties and its environs and North and South Rift and Nairobi regions for the award of mark of quality in three months to July 2023.
In the lower eastern, North Eastern and South Rift Valley regions, the exercise will cover hospitality facilities in 10 counties namely: Machakos, Makueni, Kitui, Wajir, Marsabit, Garissa, Mandera, Turkana, Samburu and West Pokot.
Hospitality facilities in three counties—Mombasa, Kwale and Taita Taveta— will be covered in the South Coast region while those in three other counties—Kilifi, Tana River and Lamu—will be of interest in the North Coast region.
“Accreditation is increasingly becoming a necessity for businesses operating in the tourism sector worldwide. It is valued by the hospitality stakeholders, guests and governments as a credible source of information on the levels of quality service and comfort accorded by the accommodation and catering establishments recognised under the system,” says the TRA in the call for consultants.
“Accreditation ensures that there is sustainable continuous improvement in quality service delivery in order to enhance customer satisfaction and enrich their experience of the destination. This further, provides greater opportunities to tourism businesses, especially the SMEs, with an enabling business environment to invest and compete favourably. Similarly, the programme supports the creation of employment opportunities in the country.”
The TRA has been implementing the development of codes of practice, standards, guidelines and classification criteria to heighten its regulatory role in the tourism sector through co-regulation and quality assurance framework.
The process also entails the development and implementation of measures to enhance competitiveness of destinations and management of customer expectations by ensuring quality products and service delivery by all tourism service providers and regulated tourism enterprises in the country.
TRA notes that the level of customers’ satisfaction at the time of their visits to a hospitality facility, has been widely acknowledged to considerably influence guests’ intentions and decisions to make repeat visits. This leads to increased business profitability, arrivals and revenue growth.
“The quality assurance framework therefore, is instrumental in facilitating quality improvements and measurements for the tourism sector,” says TRA.
The assessment framework looks at levels of quality and of each hospitality facility to award it a quality mark to signify quality performance level.
This is symbolised by bronze, silver and gold under national accreditation scheme and star rating under East African Community classification system.
