By Billy Gichohi
Tourism thrives on an invisible foundation – peace. When this foundation cracks and whispers of instability or eruptions of anarchy fill the air, the prospect of tourism drains away with startling speed.
Kenya’s youth are the real inheritors of this vital industry. Any hint of corrosive impact of perceived or real anarchy on tourism is a minus whose effects can turn costly. History is replete with vivid lessons written in lost livelihoods and deserted destinations.
In recent years, Spain has witnessed simmering resentment against a phenomenon referred to as “overtourism”. This is the feeling that visitors overwhelm local life, inflate rents, and reduce culture to a commodity. Some groups of masked and militant malcontents have been known to slash the tyres of open-top tourist buses and vandalise five-star hotels in parts of Spain. By the time Mayor Antoni Noguera was condemning the violence, acknowledging the need for tourist limits to prevent the city dying “of its success,” the damage was already done. Images of ambushed buses ricocheted globally, seeding doubt in the minds of potential visitors.
Spain’s Tourism Minister, Álvaro Nadal, warned against rising “tourism-phobia,” well aware that Spain’s economic recovery relied heavily on welcoming guests, not repelling them. Direct violence or intimidation against tourists creates an immediate and visceral perception of danger, turning to waste years of destination marketing.
South Africa’s Wild Coast, once a pristine paradise, now suffers what conservationists decry as “environmental lawlessness”. Illegal sand mining operations, numbering over 250 have ravaged beaches and estuaries while unregulated holiday cottages sprout within protected coastal zones with abandon. The resulting “situation of anarchy” fuelled by alleged political interference has paralysed legal enforcement leading to repulsive disorder and unprecedented ecological tragedy and ultimately the dearth of once bubbly tourism. Would-be guests goggling the Wild Coast today encounter such phrases as “environmental anarchy” not the beauty that once was.
A group of protesters stand outside a looted supermarket. Photo: The Star. Source: X
The November 17, 1997 Luxor massacre in Egypt at the Temple of Hatsheput that left sixty-two dead of whom fifty-eight were foreign tourists remains a blot on the reputation of an otherwise iconic destination. That took place twenty-eight years ago yet the horrid memory of that one act of terror alone lingers to this date. Clearly, what may seem a mere event in history can end up casting a long shadow on tourism.
Irresponsible tourism development, often backed by powerful interests ignoring community rights or environmental limits, can itself be a form of licensed anarchy. Mishandling of communities in the name of developing tourist facilities can breed deep-seated anger and social fracture, creating fertile ground for instability and resentment towards the industry and its clients. When tourism development operates outside principles of justice, equity, and community consent, it sows the seeds of its own destabilisation, creating underlying tensions that can erupt and deter visitors seeking harmonious experiences.
For tourism to thrive, the path of apathy or disengagement must not cede ground to forces that unravel stability. As a rule of thumb, the path of proactive stewardship weaves resilience. That is the orderly environment progressive tourism should build. Kenyan youth in their numbers possess the wherewithal to champion eco-tourism as its foremost ambassadors, educating visitors on sustainability and cultural respect and transforming encounters into exchanges of value.
For sustainable tourism, Kenya’s young men and women are the best placed guardians against environmental degradation and poaching of wild animals whose allure currently brings to our shores 70% of all our tourists. Kenya’s youth are also best suited to act as advocates for community-centric tourism models that ensure that benefits accruing from tourism flow evenly and justly locally to counter narratives alleging exploitation. Our youth are the real champions of peace building initiatives in your communities taking full cognisance that every local conflict resolved peacefully strengthens Kenya’s welcoming image globally. Therefore, our young men and women should leverage their tech-savvy reputation to promote positive narratives of Kenya’s beauty while countering shadows of anarchy with beams of hope and reliability.
Kenya’s youth hold the needle to stitch a different future, one where peace and responsible tourism are inseparable threads in the nation’s enduring desire to welcome humanity back home. Youthful energy is best channelled towards stability for that is the most powerful antidote to the shadow of anarchy.
Gichohi is an aspiring politician currently working for a Nairobi-based international organisation that supports small-scale farmers undertaking transformative farming projects in East Africa.
