Distinguished Guests,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

It gives me great pleasure to join you for the official opening of the renovated Sun and Sand Beach Resort. During my tour of the hotel earlier this morning, I was pleased to see that the upgraded facilities are of a high standard. I want to commend the proprietors and the management for the good work.

As you all know, tourists travel from distant countries to come and spend their time and money in our country. It is therefore important that the facilities we provide them are of the highest quality and give our tourist visitors the greatest comfort. The government recognizes the important role that tourism plays in Kenya's economy, in terms of its contribution to the Gross Domestic Product, creation of job opportunities and foreign exchange earnings. Currently, the sector is ranked as the number three foreign exchange earner after tea and horticulture. The impact of tourism is widely felt through forward and backward linkages.

The impact of a vibrant tourism industry is clearly evident from increased demand for goods and services in the agricultural, beverage, transport and entertainment sectors. The industry has great potential to make a lasting and significant impact on our poverty eradication efforts.
The sector has over the last two years continued to improve, due to the aggressive destination marketing efforts undertaken by the government, jointly with the private sector. I would like to point out, however, that Kenya is still far from realising its full tourism potential. For instance, worldwide, the tourism industry generates about 500 million tourists annually.

At about 500,000 visitors realized last year, Kenya's share of the global tourism market remains very low. Globally, the tourism industry is growing very rapidly at a rate of about 10 percent per year. I see no reason why Kenya should not reap the benefits of this fast growing industry.

During my speech to the tourism stakeholders last week, I pointed out that Kenya has a comparatively well- developed infrastructure, including roads, airports and our world-class hotels and lodges. Moreover, we are able to offer our tourist visitors a wide range of products, from beach tourism to game viewing in our national parks and game reserves.

Indeed, with continued aggressive marketing, and further diversification of the tourism products to include eco-tourism, sports tourism and cultural tourism, I am confident that we can look forward to increase growth of the sector. This will in turn generate many high value jobs for our unemployed young people.

As we invite more tourists to come to our country, it is nevertheless essential that we build more facilities for our visitors. We must also continue to upgrade the existing facilities to ensure that they meet internationally accepted standards. This is the only way to retain and expand our market share of the global tourism market.

I am delighted to note that Sun and Sand Beach Resort has undergone intensive upgrading at a cost of 400 million shillings. This upgrading has enabled the hotel to increase the number of guest rooms from 285 to 300, in addition to conference facilities, a health centre, which also serves the surrounding community, a nursery school and a water treatment plant.

The hotel has also upgraded from a four star to a five star status. It will now be able to attract more visitors from both the local and international market. I am also pleased to note that the hotel has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with UNICEF for the protection of children in the tourism industry.

Let me also emphasize that the government expects all hotels and restaurants to strive for and meet international standards. It is therefore imperative that hotels and restaurants engage the services of well-trained and qualified staff. An excellent service will no doubt attract top cream clientele. Hotels and restaurants being in the forefront of this industry should play the lead role in setting the standards for the tourism industry.

The onus is upon all of us therefore to develop good, well-managed facilities not only to cater for our new emerging markets, but also for our other visitors as well as the domestic market.
On its part, the government is committed to ensuring that the tourism sector is revitalized. In order to enhance investment in the tourism sector, the government created the Kenya Tourism Development Corporation as the instrument of developing and diversifying Kenya's tourism industry.

KTDC also provides advisory and financial services to investors. In addition, the government has established the Kenya Tourism Board to promote and market Kenya's tourism potential both locally and internationally. Furthermore, the Tourism Trust Fund has been created to build capacity in this vital sector.

We are also systematically addressing many of the issues that have previously been of concern to investors in this sector. Improved financial management within government has stabilized interest rates despite the high international oil prices. Investors can now make long-term investment plans. The security situation has improved over the last two years. Moreover, the government has established the tourist police unit to ensure the safety of our tourist visitors.

Finally, ladies and gentlemen, I urge all of you to invest more in domestic tourism in order to cushion the industry during off-peak seasons and during times of difficulties within the conventional generating markets.

With these remarks it is now my pleasure to declare the renovated Sun and Sand Beach Resort officially open.

Thank you.