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Over 33,000 tourism enterprises across the country have been registered and licensed by the Tourism Regulatory Authority (TRA) after meeting the set standards.
According to TRA, the number of enterprises offering tourism services is expected to rise further in the coming year.
This emerged during the Heads of Housekeeping Association of Kenya (HHPA) annual meeting in Lake Naivasha Resort and that attracted participants from different counties.
According to Frederick Omondi, the Director Standards and Quality Assurance, the authority had developed eighteen standards in a bid to address quality services in the sector.
This, according to him, formed the basis of regulating the enterprises to ensure that the sector was regulated in a sustainable manner.
Addressing the press on the sidelines of the meeting, Omondi noted that the tourism sector was on the right track despite emerging challenges and competition from neighboring countries.
“We have seen a growing number of new entrants in terms of new restaurants, new hotels, new tour operators, new tour guides and even Airbnbs,” he said.
He added that the authority had conducted a country-wide national accreditation exercise that had seen a number of hospitality facilities awarded gold on the basis of the quality performance.
“After the accreditation, we had a total of 303 gold awardees, 342 silver awardees and 346 bronze awardees and we are now prepared for the East Africa classification system,” he said.
On challenges, he admitted that there was a huge disconnect between the hotel managers and investors which the authority was prepared to address.
The Chairman HHPA Antipas Nyambok said that most housekeepers were not recognized by their employers who tended to think housekeeping was in the back of the hotel business.
Nyabok added that room business, depending on the setup of the hotel, contributed between 60 to 80 percent of the total hotel revenue.
“The housekeepers must be trained, supervised and they should be brought up to speed each and every moment as they are critical to hotel operations,” he said.
A medical practitioner Dr. Darius Wambua said that awareness among workers in the hospitality industry had seen cases of Occupational Health and Safety cases come down.
“Psychosocial stresses among workers end up causing psychosomatic disorders and this impacts eventually on productivity and hence the need to create awareness,” he said.
Others who spoke were Samuel Mungai from NEMKEM Company which offers hygiene solutions for the hospitality industry, processed foods, healthcare and cleaning contracts.
“Business in the hospitality sector has improved since Covid-19 as Kenyans have accepted to travel and the hospitality industry is gaining more traction and more occupancy,” he said.
