Tourism Principal Secretary spells out benefit of Safari Rally

John Ololtuaa, the Principal Secretary Ministry of Tourism, Wildlife and Heritage says the return of the World Rally Championship (WRC) since 2021 has put Kenya on the world map.

Being the most watched event on the 13-leg series, Ololtuaa said the hosting of the event has worked to boost the country’s sports tourism to the next level.

Ololtuaa added that the event that ended on Sunday in Naivasha offered Kenya the opportunity to showcase what Kenya has to offer in terms of hospitality and is good opportunity to showcase some of the country’s world renowned tourist attractions.

“Last week we hosted an advanced team of the WRC drivers who enjoyed a game drive and balloon rides in the iconic Mara and they were able to see the wild animals that we have there and the culture, so this is a very good opportunity to showcase the what we have as a country. The idea is that many of these visitors who come for the Safari Rally will come back not just for competitoion but as tourists or even investors to invest in our country. This will definitely have an impact on the economy,” Ololtuaa said.

The PS added that the event, which counts towards the third round of the WRC Safari Rally, is very important with sports tourism.

He said: “The Safari has brought the government ministries together and we are working very closely as a team.

From the Ministry of sport, and Ministry of wildlife and tourism and the entire private sector including KCB, Safaricom and Toyota and many other corporate entitiess that I have seen working together to ensure that the rally succeed s but also to ensure that Kenya. Portrays the vibe that it has always had in hosting the visitors.”

Dr Patrick Omondi, CEO/Director of Wildlife Research and Training Institute (WRTI) who hosts Safari’s Service Park, Media Centre, Media Zone and Rally HQs , said he is happy to host the World rally Teams for the fourth year running.

“As a research and training institute, we were involved in preparing the environmental management plan and we went round the Service Park to ensure there was no littering, the vehicles are being serviced, the oil is being trained in very specific ways as defined in that plan,’ said Omondi.

Omondi said they are excited that for the fourth year running there were no incidences of animals being killed on the route course.

Omondi noted: We surveyed the route, our ecologists have been with the marshals just to ensure that the animals crossing routes are safe and I think for the last two rallies we have not had incidents whatsoever.”
He added: “In terms of the impact on the environment, we have a very clear plan that the rally will get into environmental restoration and we are calling upon other partners to help us in our restoration plan as we target to plant 60,000 trees before June.”

The WRC has given the WRTI a clean bill of health on how they manage the environment.