In line with the implementation of the EAC Tourism Marketing Strategy, the EAC with support of GIZ is currently developing a Tourism Barometer. After its finalization, the Barometer will act as a scorecard from which Partner States as well as private sector and civil society stakeholders can source data, which will enable them to make better collective decisions and gauge the effectiveness of policies, strategies, interventions, and actions pertaining to tourism development and marketing in the region.
From 7 to 10 November 2022 a Regional Validation Workshop on the EAC Tourism Barometer was held in Mombasa, Kenya to validate the Draft EAC Tourism Barometer Template and Tourism Indicators. The development of the draft as well as the validation workshop have been facilitated by the joint EAC and GIZ project “Support to East African Integration” (SEAMPEC II).
The meeting reviewed and validated the EAC Tourism Barometer Template and the list of Tourism Indicators. Further, it recommended the following:
i)    The EAC Secretariat to submit the validated EAC Tourism Barometer and the list of Tourism Indicators to the Sectoral Council on Tourism and Wildlife Management for consideration and adoption;
ii)    The EAC Secretariat to request the Partner States to nominate focal persons who will be capturing and updating data on a quarterly basis and populate the indicators;
iii)    The EAC Tourism Barometer will be hosted at the EAC Statistics Data Portal that was developed within the Open Data Platform framework, with support of the African Development Bank and IMF designed to host trade data;
iv)    EAC Department of Statistics to adopt tourism as a pilot sector for development of modules for trade in services sectors.
In fact, the implementation of the EAC Tourism Barometer will be a major step in stipulating the establishment of a regional tourism and data sharing mechanism and system. The successful conclusion of the validation workshop brought EAC one step closer to achieving this goal.
Background
SEAMPEC II implements together with the EAC Secretariat on behalf of the German Federal Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ). It aims to improve framework conditions for regional and continental trade with potential to support sustainable economic transformation, among them ICT, e-Commerce, and tourism. The programme also assists the private sector in developing policy positions and recommendations.
Find more information about SEAMPEC II here.
Find more information on EAC-GIZ cooperation on Tourism here.