Country: Kenya

Organization: People to People Tourism-Kenya

Year the initiative began: 2001

Project Website: www.peopletopeopletourism.com

Positioning in the Mosaic of solutions:

• Main barrier addressed: Lack of local input
• Main insight addressed: Education through hands-on experience

What is the goal of your innovation?
Offering tourists intrinsic culture based products and attractions that impact positively on both the environment and the local population.

How does your approach support or embody geotourism?
People to People Tourism (PPT) is a tour that is educative in terms of sensitizing travellers’ understanding and responsibilities to culture within the countries that they are visiting. To put it in a religious term, we are Gods’ stewards i.e. managers in charge of Gods’ creation. That is what embodying Geotourism approach in a broader perspective entails. We hold the view that we are in this earth to take care of each other and the rest of creation with passion. That passion includes promoting enriching tour exposures that embody environmental conservation, promoting love for nature and wildlife among other customized tour packages. Our People to People Tourism concept is basically an alternative approach to the traditional Tourism Industry in Kenya; in that we are also focused on not only easing the ever-increasing congestion on Kenya’s beautiful and ecologically sensitive wildlife habitat but as our brand name suggests, we are a tour that helps promote greater cross cultural understanding and International co-operation between peoples. We are in essence building bridges and breaking social barriers by giving visiting tourists a better insight of the country and its people.

Describe your approach in detial. How is it innovative?
Changing trends in Global Tourism indicate that given opportunity, more tourists would go for attractive culture based products that enables them interact, learn and stay with the local communities. In Kenya, the Maasai culture is marketed seriously in the international tourism front yet we have unmarketed 43 ethnic communities. PPT aims to go beyond that and spread tourism potential benefits to communities who have previously never benefited from the sector. Kenya has largely been seen as a beach tourist destination attracting low financial yields from hordes of back-peckers yet over the years, mass tourism has proven to do greater damage environmentally and culturally than good. PPT aims to make a shift from that trend and promote high value culture based tourism niche attractions of intrinsic value that tourists enjoy. There is a need therefore of creating a stronger branding of community based tourism and marketing of the same in the international marketplace. An aggressive marketing of culture based products would ultimately mean spreading of sustainable tourism potential benefits. This would bring about positive development and spread the benefits far beyond the domain of the few popular large-scale attractions such as the popular coastal beach hotels and Game reserves.

What types of partnerships or professional developement would be most beneficial in spearding your innovation?
Given that destinations are no longer about volume but value, and most importantly its impact on local communities, PPT would be more keen in partnering with professionals interested in helping us to strategically develop and strengthen PPT marketing networks regionally and overseas. Thus increasing the visibility of our products innovation in a global-scale, thereby attracting more revenue from tourists. The aim of PPT is not just to work with communities, but ensure that our mutual partnership with them is a long lasting one, that builds self reliance and makes sure that the resulting benefits are equitably distributed among host communities.

In one sentence describe what kind of impact, change, or reform your approach is intended to achieve.
Nurture and harmoniously market attractive culture-based products; alongside traditional ones such as game parks, coastal beaches etc

Describe the degree of success of your approach to date. Clearly define how you measure quantitative and qualitative impact in terms of how your approach contributes to the sustainability or enhancement of local culture, environment, heritage, or aesthetics? How does your approach minimize negative impacts?
Our objective is to proactively tap the inherent potential in Crafts and Tourism Industry. Like Tourism, Crafts have the potential of earning the country the much needed foreign exchange and promoting local cultural heritage and aesthetic. Our two sister organizations i.e. PPT and Crafts of Africa are known to champion for economically and ecologically sound tours that are educative and promote a sensitive understanding of travelers’ responsibilities to the socio-cultural environment within the country clients are visiting. Africa’s leading tour Institute namely the Kenya Utalii College (KUC) has not only called on PPT to share our approach and experience with their Travel and Tourism students but have also invited PPT brain child to serve in (KUC) eternal examiner panel. In 2002, InWent- a Germany Government International Organization fully sponsored PPT brain child and one staff to give talks on PPT approach to various forums in Germany. PPT had organized a successful cultural home stay tour for German Youth. UK-Traidcraft Meet the People Tour and PPT-Kenya have since 2004 been organizing 14 pax two weeks Kenya tour yearly. We also have evaluation tools to qualitatively and quantitatively capture clients’ feedback on PPT impact on issues touching on the above Geotourism concerns.

How does your program promote traveler enthusiasm, satisfaction, and engagement with the locale?
Africa’s conventional tourism pattern of taking visitors to Game parks, coastal beaches and places of natural wonders is less participatory. For that reason, PPT is shifting from doing things than already existing by promoting more interactive tours with the locale such as cultural immersion tourism, informal business “Jua kali” sector tourism and up country village based eco-tourism etc. In other words, our brand of tourism is practically enhancing closer engagement with the Kenya’s’ 43 ethnic communities. It is an approach that enables tourists to experience our rich cultural diversity. Thus promoting greater cross cultural understanding and International cooperation between peoples.

In what ways are local residents actively involved in your innovation, including participation and community input? How has the community responded to or benefited from your approach?
The concept underlying PPT idea/ approach is not just to work with communities, but to ensure that the partnership is a long-lasting one that builds on self reliance, and makes sure that resulting benefits are equitably distributed. How? Tourists pay a modest hospitality up keep to the host family to cover home stay daily basic needs. It’s a gesture host communities embrace with enthusiasm. They also participate in guaranteeing comfort and security to clients. Despite lack of experience and capacity to properly market their products, our communities are very much aware that they have unique products that tourists really enjoy.

Describe how your innovation helps travelers and local residents better understand the value of the area's cultural and natural heritage, and educates them on local environmental issues. How do you motivate them to act responsibly in their future travel decisions?
It is at the grassroots levels that human relationships develop. We therefore encourage tourists to team up with the locals in planting trees as part of responsible tourism campaign. It is a participatory concept that gives opportunities to both visitors and the locals to intermingle and sensitize each other on environmental issues. Cultural education songs and dances using traditional music instruments are very much an integral part of these tree planting events. Tourists of various professional background and expertise are proactively identifying themselves with such community based development initiatives with some offering to give their God given talents and resources.

Is your initiative financially and organizationally sustainable? If not, what is required to make it so? What is the potential demand for your innovation?
PPT concept has attractive tourist packages with local and International appeal. But to be able to prudently put our innovative ideas and thinking into practice, we need moral and financial support. Why? Ideas if well nurtured; can be and have been a solution to almost every human challenge. Without ideas humanity would not advance and without funding even the best innovative ideas remain just that; nothing more!!! What is required is to increase our brand of tourism visibility by developing products that will make tourists feel they are getting value for their money and hence spend more during their stay.

How is your initiative currently financed? If available, provide information on your finances and organization that could help others. Please list: Annual budget, annual revenue generated, size of part-time, full-time and volunteer staff.
PPT is a small scale tour operator. its humble initiatives are financed from the revenue generated from PPT tours and when need dictates from its sister organization the COA As a way of minimizing impact on the local people, environment and wildlife, we keep tour groups size to a maximum of 14 people. Annual revenue generated by PPT is a modest US $ 50,000. PPT has 2 full time staff. We do also depending on the work load hire services of skilled and experienced tour drivers and guides. A UK organization that could also help others on conservation front with a grant of upto a tune of 5000 pounds is Refund small grant foundation www--they did sponsor our initiatives in: “Taping local knowledge for the conservation of indigenous trees and plants “ We are ready to share these invaluable research findings with other interested players in Eco tourism world.

What is your plan to expand your approach? Please indicate where/how you would like to grow or enhance your innovation, or have others do so.
One cannot de-link PPT concept and vision from sister organization COA in nurturing crafts making us a source of income, cultural heritage and tourism promotion. To proactively enhance project income sustainability, PPT and COA synergy requires our relocating to an established tourist circuit. If funds allow, we plan to establish African huts design accommodation cottages, build one stop shop with craft products sourced from all over Africa; come up with organic food eco-restaurant that will promote eating of nutritious African Cultural dishes; thus enhancing conservation by utilization. We intend to share our thinking and approaches with the tourism world.

What are the main barriers you encounter in managing, implementing, or replicating your innovation? What barriers keep your program from having greater impact?
Recent 2007 December Kenya’s post elections skirmishes and the subsequent USA, UK and other European countries travel advisories are barriers to PPT humble innovations so is Kenya’s lack of strong branding of Community Based Tourism (CBT) and marketing of the same at a global scale. PPT/COA current operation premises have little room for expansion. We are also not within a tourist circuit access area. That is yet another barrier. We believe every organization has potential and opportunities for improvement only if implementers eliminate weak areas and re-channel available resources prudently into more profitable and well thought out projects and programs. If fund allow, our long term plan and vision is to relocate to a tourist circuit area and come up with income generating projects i.e. construct a superb African Huts accommodation cottages, an organic food Eco-restaurant, a cyber café, a fair trade “one stop shop” with crafts sourced from across Africa. This will serve as a replicable model project that can catalyze the establishment of similar development outfits in Africa and beyond. The way forward is to conserve and increase awareness of country’s rich natural and cultural-heritage, production of responsible tourism information-materials and dissemination of the same to the populace.

What is the origin of your innovation? Tell your story.
Over the years, tour companies in Kenya have concentrated in wildlife and beach tourism. It’s a pull factor that makes the industry players to leave out other attractions like Eco-tourism, Cultural tourism, sports, bird watching, agro-tourism, “Jua kali” informal sector business tourism etc. Majority of Kenyans eke a living from the latter two sectors. The need to encourage tourists to visit other destinations away from the traditional ones such as Game parks and coastal beaches is what prompted my coming up with the concept underlying PPT idea. When starting a new business venture, it is prudent to first find a niche market not currently serviced or ignored and focus ones’ energy there. So when we talk about the genesis of PPT innovation, the story is very much linked with how to proactively tap the opportunities or unmet needs in the tourism sector left lying and waiting to be gleaned. PPT idea is not about disrupting Kenya’s established competitive advantage in the tourism world. In this respect, we do alongside our community based tourism (CBT) package also organize wildlife safaris and holidays to our beautiful world famous coastal sandy beaches. We hold the view that the best way to Global thinking is just to get up and go on a short-term mission project to another country. There is simply no substitute for hands on real life experience in another culture. On the same breath, images taken from our daily environment are realistically easier to understand than abstract ideas or mental tourism. Our PPT team will be more than happy to give you an enriching tour exposure that gives you a better insight of Kenya and its people and value for your money. Unlike regular tour operators, our PPT agro- tours includes an up-country tour that gives you a breath of fresh air as you get to see our country’s beauty as well as intermingle with rural dwellers such as small-scale organic farmers, tea and coffee farmers particularly those reaping dividends from fair trade premium schemes. Our other products include visits to Kenya’s historical heritage sites and museums, other circuits are Western Kenya where tourists enjoy seeing bull or cockerel fighting in Kakamega rural villages. We also organize home stay hospitality treat for tourists interested in experiencing what it feels like to spend time or a night in an African home; be it a rural village or urban set-up. Most successful businesses are those that focus their efforts on satisfying customers’ interests, needs and convenience. This calls for keeping a track on feedback of what customers requires, suggests or recommends. Our being able to successfully nurture that and adapt an integrated and holistic approach to development has earned PPT and its sister organization Crafts of Africa local and international recognition, such as first prize service category of the Kenya quality award (KQA) www.keb.org and social entrepreneurship Ashoka award. PPT is ever keen to share ideas as well as borrow a leaf from other countries success stories and approaches in the tourism sector.

Please provide a personal bio. Note this may be used in Changemakers' marketing material.
The purpose of every human being is to be of some use to our fellow human beings as well as to the rest of God’s creations. Most of my life has been spent working together with the rural and urban grass-roots communities in seeking solutions to problems touching on their lives. My school of thought, vision and passion is very much guided by the ideas of self-reliance and nurturing of holistic and participatory approaches to development. Seeing others improve so that they can be co-workers in building and sharing this wealth is my happiness.

Please write an overview of your project. This text will appear when people scroll over the icon for your entry on the Google map located on teh competition homepage.
Most tourists want to interact with local communities. They want to stay in places that positively impact on both the environment and the local population. They are thus looking for culture based attractions and products. For tourists who have had an opportunity to experience what PPT offers interms of our unique and authentic insights in Kenya, its people and culture, they will tell you that there is simply no substitute for hands on real life experience in another culture. We run tours that give clients opportunities to experience life in local communities, visit community development projects and other fair trade groups. We are a tour that gets you to mingle freely and discuss anything be it local or international issues with the local people. PPT is a tour that offers thinkers, intellectuals and ordinary people opportunities to meet and listen to each other; exchange ideas, cultural beliefs, value systems etc in a way that helps build greater understanding between peoples. In keeping with Kenya’s reputation as a country where “one can experience the whole world in one safari.” PPT tour will also give you a chance of seeing our beautiful wildlife; palm fringed coastal beaches, the countryside and much more!!!

Contact Information
Mr. Peter Wahome
Project Facilitator
People to People Tourism-Kenya
P.O Box 40952, GPO
info@peopletopeopletourism.com